The Gift of Overwhelm
"We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8b-9)
The saying that God will never give us more than we can endure is simply not true.
Why? Why would God allow that to happen to His children? Why would God make life -and even survival- impossible for us?
It's quite simple, really.
Overwhelm is when all the temporary fixes we depend on stop working.
Overwhelm is when the truth of those temporary fixes sinks in; they are not really fixes at all.
Overwhelm is when we can begin to realize we were made to depend on the unseen, eternal God.
It is when we are forced to make a choice in response to our own instinct to survive as to who or what we will depend on.
It is when we are given the opportunity to stop relying on ourselves and cry out to God for help.
It is when we can deeply and experientially learn to rely only on God.
It is also when His power at work in your life can become more obvious to a watching world.
Yes...
He will allow us to be "pressed on every side by troubles", but in Him we need never be crushed.
He will allow us to be perplexed, but in Him we need never despair.
He will allow us to be hunted down, but we will never be abandoned by Him.
He will allow us to be knocked down, but in Christ, we cannot be destroyed.
Our bodies will suffer the results of living in this sin-sick world, but it is all for a cause. (2 Cor 4)
It is that His life -His resurrection power- may freely flow into us and through us as we learn to hold on to God alone and let go of all that is temporary.
Because, when this world and all that is in it fails us, we can learn afresh to reach upward and grab ahold of the God who cannot fail -for He is already holding us.
The breakdown of the natural realm makes room for the supernatural so that in death and suffering and overwhelming circumstances, we can taste and experience the God who raises the dead living in and through us.
Because...
The only One who can love the unlovable and return good for evil through you is the God who is love.
The only One who can be a current of peace in your soul even in the most turbulent times is the Prince of Peace.
The only One who can well up within you with joy inexpressible and full of glory in the darkest of times is the King who sits on His throne laughing at the wicked who mock Him. (Psalm 2)
The only One who can supply endurance to suffer long with much patience is Jesus, who did so Himself.
The only One who can respond through you to the most wicked acts with kindness and gentleness is He who left His throne to live among us and eventually in us.
The only One who can make your faith unbreakable is He who is utterly faithful to you no matter what you do or how far from Him you have been.
And He is so good to us... What can we reach for that is better than He is, or more caring, loving, and tenderhearted towards us in our weaknesses, or more understanding of the deepest needs we feel and cannot even express?
The overwhelm is a gift, my friend, for it points us to Him.
Oh, the process of learning this is arduous, but what sweetness when once this is tasted. My dear fellow Child of the King, let Him teach you, and you will be sure to learn that this world is not all there is, and He is more than enough to cause us to thrive in the most overwhelming of circumstances.
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