God Will Not Give Me More Than I Can Handle

Event: Summer Kick-Off

Message Title: "God Won’t Give You More Than You Can Handle"

Author: Ty

Key: Media Scripture Slides Personal Stories

Intro.

Who in here is the type of person that tries to carry all of the groceries in at one time?

Bro, that is me ALL DAY LONG. Like, who really wants to make two trips? Are you kidding me? Life is too short, and I do not have all day. I do this now as an adult, but I’ve always done it. As a kid (if I wasn’t pretending to be asleep) when my mom got home from the store, I’d go outside and try to load up every single bag on both arms, all the way to my shoulders. I looked ridiculous. Bags up to my shoulders lol. And I’d be doing good for a while, but then…the heartbreaking moment. I hear a can hit the ground. Then another.

Then, all at once, the bottom of the bag breaks, and cans and fruit are everywhere. And I’m so stubborn, I’ll still try to hold the other bags in the air while reaching down trying to fix it. Looking like a mess.

Turn.

Why? Because I truly believed I could carry all that weight on my own.And turns out

And turns out; I couldn’t. And neither can you.

Tension.

That’s how a lot of us are living life right now.Trying to carry

Trying to carry everything at once…

The pressure of school.

The hurt in your family.

The anxiety that feels overwhelming.

The secret sin you’ve been hiding.

The pressure to keep your image together while your soul is falling apart.

But what’s true is that we weren’t meant to carry the life’s burdens alone.

Jesus himself said it in Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Yet in our culture, in our world, we’ve bought the lie that if it’s in my life, it’s mine to handle. But let me just tell you from the start:

It’s not yours to handle; it’s yours to bring.

You will experience some things in life that more than you can handle. But God grants you a solution not by handling it yourself but by handing it over to Him.

Series.

This summer we’re going to go through a series called Lies Christians Like, here’s why. A pastor that I love named Craig Groeschel has this great quote that says, “a lie believed as a truth will affect your life as if it were true.”

We’re going to talk about some lies that Christians like because I believe that many of us are experiencing unnecessary pain in our relationship with God because of the lies about Him that we believe.

And tonight, we’re going to talk about a lie that sounds like a truth.

In fact, so many people throw it around casually that it feels like it is true…but it’s not, and it’s hurting us: God will not give you more than you can handle.

Scripture.

And tonight, we’re going to look at the life of someone in the Bible who was absolutely given more than they can handle. And his name’s Hosea. Somebody say Hosea!

We’re going to be in Hosea 1:2-3

2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Hosea is a prophet that means that God uses him to speak to His people. And most prophets didn’t simply spoke their prophecy, but they actually had to live their prophecy.

Which is already more than any of us can handle.

And as if things weren’t difficult enough, God tells Hosea here’s the prophecy that I want you to live out. Go and marry this woman who doesn’t even seem to truly love you. Make her your wife and start a family.

I want to pause here, think about that. God just told Hosea to go and marry someone who is unfaithful and start a family with her. Like, hello God I don’t know if you know this but that sounds like a recipe for heartbreak.

Like this isn’t just uncomfortable, this feels impossible.

Do you ever feel that way sometimes?

Like what you’re carrying in life feels impossible? And what I love here in this story is that in the midst of what feels to be impossible; God remains present. God continues to speak to Hosea and Hosea continues to hear from God.

Why? Because God never said life will always feel “possible” he just promised that He’ll always remain present.

Hosea may have questioned his experience, but he never had to question God’s presence.

Because living in a fallen world what’s true is 3 things:

You’re in a situation that feels impossible

You just got out of a situation that feels impossible

You will one day experience a situation that feels impossible.

Maybe for some of you, you’ve understood what’s it like to be placed in a situation that feels like this:

Maybe for you heading into Middle School you feel overwhelmed learning a new environment and needing to make new friends.

Your parents split up, and now you spend half the week at one house and half at the other. You feel stuck in the middle. That feels impossible.

You try to pray or read your Bible, but it feels confusing, and you can’t seem to figure it out. That feels impossible.

By the way, if you think you might be the exception to this, did you know that even JESUS was placed in a situation that seemed impossible?

John 16:32 says this…

Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

You see, your heavenly Father is with you in the midst of what you can’t handle. And this is what Hosea is beginning to experience.

Hosea and Gomer.

And so, Hosea follows God’s plan and lives out his prophecy.

Hosea obeys. He married a woman named Gomer. I’m not trying to be mean, but it would take a command from God Himself for me to marry someone with a name like that…They start a family. They build a life. And it’s going well…for a while.

Until one day, seemingly out of nowhere Gomer decides she’s going to leave. She leaves Hosea, returns to her old lifestyle, and leaves him alone at home with their kids. She cheats. She betrays. She breaks Hosea’s heart. And Hosea feels empty.

Can you imagine what his prayers probably sound like? God why!? Why me? How could you allow this to happen?

And God answers Hosea and tells him this in… Hosea 3:1

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

God tells Hosea; here’s what I want you to do: I want you to go again, find Gomer, and marry her.

Can you imagine the overwhelming sense of confusion that Hosea feels here in this moment.

Hosea doesn’t just feel like this is more than he can handle…He probably feels like it’s more than 

He probably feels like it’s more than God can handle.

Let’s go back to the story: Hosea has to go buy back his wife, who cheated on him, and then marry her again. Why would God ask anyone to do something like that? It feels impossible. But that’s the point.

It feels weird because most of us believe something God never actually said about himself: “That He won’t give us more than we can handle.”

And what He asks Hosea to do

And what He asks Hosea to do actually makes sense when you see it through the truth of who God is. He’s a redeemer, a restorer.A God who steps into brokenness and buys back what was lost.

A God who steps into brokenness and buys back what was lost.

God gives us more than WE can handle, but He never gives us more than HE can handle.

And this is what Hosea is experiencing. God tells Hosea “Go again, Find Gomer, and marry her.” Go and marry the one who betrayed and hurt you. Go do something that feels impossible.

So, Hosea obeys… he travels down to the part of town that no man of God should be. I’m sure he felt the pressure… the weight… the embarrassment for simply being present in a such a dark place.

He finds Gomer and she’s actively being sold. And what scholars believe is that Hosea walked in on an auction for his wife.

Imagine, what

Imagine, what’s going through Gomer’s mind. Her husband is there to pay the cost to get her back. And he does.

Hosea 3:2-3 says this…

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

Hosea pays the cost for to receive Gomer back! But here’s what I really want us to not miss tonight… Up until now you’ve been listening to this message and this story in scripture thinking you’re Hosea. And God how you simply need to trust God’s power in the midst of your pain. Which is definitely true.

But you’re not Hosea in this story… You’re Gomer. We’re Gomer.

We’re the ones that have chosen to walk away from God.

We don’t know why Gomer walked away from Hosea.

Maybe she felt unworthy

Maybe she felt life was too much to handle

Maybe she didn’t truly believe Hosea loved her

We don’t know. But what we do know is that Hosea in the midst of her betrayal pursues her with love leading the way.

Notice, what he’s doing in verse 3…

3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

He’s renewing his vows to her! Which is wild because Gomer ALREADY BELONGED to Hosea, but Hosea still paid whatever price was necessary to get her back. You see, we’re Gomer and Jesus is our Hosea.

We’re the ones who walked away. And yet… Jesus still pursued you and paid the price for you! Even when life felt like too much for us to handle, it wasn’t too much for Him to redeem.

John 3:16 says this…

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I know we dogged on Gomer for her name earlier, but when you understand that you’re Gomer in the story, there is not a sweeter sounding name…because, do you know what Gomer means? Completion.

Do you know what Hosea means? Salvation.

Hosea = Salvation

Gomer = Completion

In Jesus, your salvation is complete.

Application.

So, here’s my question to you…

What weight are you carrying that God never asked you to carry alone?

Will you keep trying to carry it all?

Will you keep trying to fix yourself, save yourself, hold it all together?

Or… will you finally admit, “I’m not Hosea… I’m Gomer. I need Jesus.”

Because remember… God allows us to experience more than we can handle because He never meant for us to carry it alone.

There’s some of you here tonight and this is the first time that you’ve ever realized that you need Jesus in your life. Let me share the Gospel with you.

Gospel.

You see, the Gospel means “Good News” and it’s the good news that although we’re Gomer, Jesus decided to be our Hosea because of His love for us. We’ve sinned and turned away from God and turned to our sin. And our sin comes with a price and the Bible says the cost of sin is death. And so, God sent His son Jesus on a rescue mission to pay the cost for our sin. So, we could be brought back into right relationship with Him. And not only that he was laid in tomb and for two days he laid there but on third day Jesus rose! Conquering death, hell, and the grave! Now we have the opportunity to place our faith in Jesus. Trusting in Him for the forgiveness of our sins and committing to follow Him for the rest of our life!

Response Moment.

For some of you, you’ve made that commitment already.

You’ve already decided Jesus is my Hosea and I’m his Gomer.

But for some of you, you haven’t made that decision.

You’ve never decided to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and commit to him for the rest of your life. And for the first time tonight you’re going to make the decision to follow Jesus! The Bible says if we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in heart that God raised Him from the Dead we will be saved.

And if that’s you here tonight… I want us to pray together because that’s the hope prayer offers us confessing with our mouth as we’re believing in our hearts. If you’re already a follower of Jesus we’re going to pray this prayer together as well because we need to be reminded daily that Jesus is our Hosea, our salvation, and we are his Gomer.

Let’s pray this together…

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. I have sinned and fell short of your glory. I believe you sent Jesus as my Hosea, to save me from my sin. Forgive me, restore me, give me your Holy Spirit. I believe Jesus, that you are Lord, and that God raised you from the grave. I love you Jesus. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.

If you said that prayer for the first time tonight on the count of three, I want you to stand up in response because faith isn’t private it’s public. It’s going to take faith and courage, but that’s what your journey with Jesus centers around. 1… 2… 3…

Praise the Lord! What does all of heaven do when even one says yes to Jesus! If you said yes to Jesus for the first time during worship here in a moment, we have leaders in the back of the room that want to pray with you and get your information so that you don’t have to continue to handle life alone.

So, during worship respond to a leader

So, during worship respond to a leader because you can’t do life with Jesus alone.

Let’s worship.

(Come back and close in prayer)