How to Approach Tasks That Are Too Hard
Lots of talk among my people lately, about tasks we have to do that seem impossible.
Like my daughter who is working through senior-level accounting classes.
And my mom who temporarily has to fill another role at work, on top of her normal job duties.
And my husband who listed off to me weeks of extra events that somehow landed on his calendar for this spring.
And me still figuring out this whole Spanish teacher thing.
With my heart overwhelmed, I sat down to read the two-page story of Jonah. From inside a fish he prays.
From inside a fish.
You hurled me into the deep,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
(Jonah 2:3 NIV)
I stopped there and repeated Jonah’s words to the Lord.
You hurled me.
Your waves swept over me.
Your breakers.
Will God put us in situations that are too difficult for us? Yes. He. Will.
Always.
Why? I asked the Lord 467 times one night. Why do you put us in places where we feel like we can’t breathe?
The answer came to me from the book of Jonah…
So we’ll be desperate.
So we’ll be where no person can help.
So we’ll come to the end of what we can do for ourselves and be willing to state that fact out loud.
So we’ll pray. Pray hard.
When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
(Jonah 2:7 NIV)
I recently read a book that I found so encouraging I want to recommend it to you. It is the story of a woman who has faced one hard wave after another, but to walk through her story is to see how God puts us in the hardest of places so we can know who he is when everything we face is not do-able by our own hands. (Get a free, beautiful print download when you order Michele’s book here.)
Michele says this near the end of her book:
My desire for a tidy life was simply that, my desire. This was the demand I made of myself and the people in my life, including God. But it was a demand God had no intention of meeting. Instead, he soothed my angst with a hint of freedom: “I never wanted nor promised a tidy life. I want you. And I promised me.”
Yes, this week is too hard for us, because the Creator of ocean waves often hurls us into the deep on purpose.
So we remember the LORD.
And we pray from the gut.
Great post, and so very true! I’ve always said that God DOES give you more than you can handle – so you will turn to him. I’ve found that to be true so many times in my life. Thank you, Christy, for all of the encouragement. I really enjoy your blogs!
Your tag for this post, overwhelmed, is precisely where I am. I prayed that desperate prayer just 2 days ago, and have already taken everything back from God’s hands and put them squarely on my shoulders. I needed this reminder. Thank you!!
Powerful stuff and not said nearly enough. The expression “God won’t give you more than you can handle” that’s so often spoken and even sung in Christian circles is nowhere to be found in Scripture.