No Hill For A Stepper

Too often, we look on that passage “God never gives you more than you can handle” as though He is putting you through some awful test, or that He is “easing up on the throttle” regarding just how much pressure He is causing you to endure. This writing is to help us see this passage from His perspective; maybe He is not giving us all we can handle because we are weak, child-like, and rather immature in our lives with Him.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV

Note: In my early 20’s, I was apprenticing under a Senior Mechanical Engineer and he was passing along a project to me that was a bit challenging, a bit complicated, and to me a bit too far over my head. When I expressed my concern about this to him, he quickly replied, “It’s no hill for a stepper”. After a pause of confusion on my face, he went further to explain that getting over the little humps is easy. Getting over the larger ones simply means you grow to be bigger than that hill… so-as to just step right over it, rather than struggle to climb it.

When we consider any of the tougher jobs, tasks, or responsibilities in life, we would rarely consider a child, or teen capable of handling these. They are not seasoned, mature, and especially experienced to cope with and balance the process of many of the daily life events. We are not born with built-in experience. We are not born with built-in knowledge. And, we certainly are not born with built-in maturity… these come with time, exposure, and progress. Even more-so, growing older does not automatically cause us to mature, to become wise, and especially to qualify us to handle deeper and more challenging events. 1 Corinthians 13:11 KJV tells us, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.“

The innocence of a child is quite endearing. Their freshness of life… their gleeful approach to many events… their naive curiosity is just so sweet, so precious and almost enviable (oh, to be a child again, we might say). To expose them to the tougher experiences and challenges in life almost always ends in disaster, calamity, and will typically cause a lifetime of anguished memories. As we grow older and older, we all-too-easily feel as though we are ‘up for the challenge’ and are ‘ready to take on the world’. The energy and desire are commendable, and the caution that needs to be included is that we don’t “bite off more than we can chew”, as it were.

Parable of the Sower

"And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Matthew 13:3-9 KJV

Through life, these challenges we face will typically encourage us, or defeat us. Sure, many of us are a bit more tenacious than failing once and giving up. But, there are times when trying over and over again without success, or advancing, or ‘getting past it’ can leave you destroyed and quite demoralized. In many ways, ‘the hill is too large’ to overcome… to get past… to step over, as it were.

As I noted earlier, these challenges will either encourage us or defeat us. Too often, we may just settle into a “so, this is my life” place and almost never take on any new effort to progress…. to grow.. to expose our spirits to ‘yet another potential defeat’. These hills in our lives can do one of three things, stop us completely, motivate us to give it another try, or encourage us through success.

"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." Psalms 119:67

As children of God almighty, we are not facing life alone…. we are not simply struggling to get over this hill God has placed before us… or conniving a slick way to get around it… or just sitting down in one of those ‘this is as far as I go, I guess’ puddle of resolve. Rather, He has provided His Word, His Spirit, and His promise to not only lead you, but instill the strength in you to give it another try. The key component is the meatier matters of life, though… the deeper things in God… the things beyond the “when I was a child” reference, earlier.