I shall be aliterate no more

I thought I'd provide you with resources so you may research for yourself some of those who are informing my  thoughts here.  These are amazing provocative pieces.  I am providing multimedia links in the hopes that these "teasers" will encourage you to  join me in resuming literary habits.  It's great, in this day and age, that there are so many means to appeal to multi-sensory input. If you simply cannot make time to read, at least there are audio/visual options to engage in learning and spiritual formation.  But, in my opinion, we ought to maintain the discipline of reading good books and engaging in critical discussion of ideas. 

I have been reading some really different kinds of books by people who are asking questions about the best way to follow Jesus in today's culture.  Check out the links below:
 
Skye Jethani, The Divine Commodity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV9Da5-DNwM

Francis Chan, Crazy Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvtNTUV9O50

David Platt, Radical Together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZfC7vAbte4

Philip Yancy, The Jesus I Never Knew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_2bFNISlVc

David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEGIy_Ms50I

John Eldredge, Wild at Heart (I apologize about the audio on this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBEgrU90tbw

Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CWKKX4/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0232521026&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1Z96GY1F5QGY5G2ZFB7H

AW Tozer, The Pursuit of God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocfm497wxKE

Can You Handle It? A magic lesson.

Many churchgoers, though they profess moral aversion to practicing magic/sorcery, unwittingly engage in magic through the platitudes they advance.  One of my pet peeves says "God won't give you any more than you can handle."  I have heard folks make the claim that the Bible says precisely that, as though there is a specific address to which one can turn and find that verse.  I challenge folks again and again: Where does it say that?

Perhaps the quote was originally derived from one or two Biblical references that do exist.  One deals with temptation, 1 Corinthians 10:13

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

and the other to suffering or torment 2 Corinthians 12:9a.

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” "

It is  one thing to know that in the face of apparently overwhelming temptation that God always provides a way out.  Arguably, the case can be made that no temptation will exceed the ability to escape. Hence, the claim that God won't permit more temptation than a believer can handle may be valid. As a loose paraphrase, it lacks spiritual clarity and is a potential stumbling block.
A faith problem arises when people try to generalize the temptation application to the issue of suffering.  In regards to the latter, God has not said that he would remove it and has not even promised a way out, this side of eternity.  Rather, he has offered us himself, in the form of grace to live with it, to endure it and even to have fellowship with Jesus in and through it. There is no scriptural basis for the belief that God will shield us in any way from hardship.  In fact a great deal of scripture points to an increase of suffering to those who follow Jesus. (Luke 9:23, Luke 12:11, Jesus' repeated demands of extreme devotion)

The quote is used regularly by well-meaning do-gooders to quell the enormity of emotion  that wells up around tragic loss, incidents of grievous devastation,such as death of a loved one.  It is a pseudo-spiritual piece of pop-wisdom which misappropriates credit to God that rightfully belongs to other forces, specifically the forces of destruction. All too often it is said with the effect of casting a spell on its recipient that he or she should quietly not bother anyone else with his or her burdens.  It also has a tendency to protect the one casting the spell from becoming involved in carrying burdens. 

What is implied in that word, "more," anyway?  What theology underlies this commentary? Is it the idea that God 1.)either has such great trust in us to give us such great burdens, or 2.) that he will employ all of his cosmic powers to prevent us from hurting?  Perhaps God just knows that we believers can handle it and therefore entrusts it to us because he has faith in us. Somehow,  just because we bear Jesus' name we are suddenly imbued with superhuman powers to be inoculated against any kind of hurt.  This is magical thinking - not spiritual maturity.

If the space in our minds is inhabited by such fantastical demands of God, how does our spiritual house accommodate it when God allows tsunami waves to swallow up half an Asian country, or when he permits cancer to consume the life of a young  wife and mother or lets political forces massacre their own unarmed citizens that are young, elderly, women or sick? What about when, as happened recently in Florida, God  allows a blazing inferno near a freeway to blind drivers going in both directions to the point that 70 cars pile up within moments and the result is death and devastation. Some of those killed in that pileup were returnees from a Christian conference, eager to get home for worship and to share their week's learning with those at home.  Surely any of those scenarios qualifies as "too much,"  right?  Does God cease to exist when horror happens?  Or does he just cease being good?  These questions hopefully illustrate what's wrong with believing God won't allow suffering

By definition, magic is the manipulation of spiritual forces to do our bidding.  Faith is something very different.  It is something that trusts in God's goodness despite the conditions we find ourselves in.  It is not conditional on whether he permits overwhelming pain into our lives, or not.