When You Can't Take It Anymore

Dear Friends,

          How many times have you felt like crying out lately, “Dear God, I can’t take it anymore.”

          When the bottom seems to be dropping out of life and we feel the pressure mounting, the God – talk disassociated from the tragic events at hand (the present reality) only makes the problem worse. It is not theories or talk that is needed, but an awakening to the fact that God is present in the most hopeless of circumstances and situations.

2 Samuel 22 is David’s powerful testimony of God’s presence at those moments in life when we find ourselves in the midst of the pressure cooker of circumstances and the temperature is turned all the way up. It is times like that when we feel like crying out, “’I can’t take it anymore.”

          Instead of saying that, David starts out by declaring, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my Savior – from violent men you save me. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies” (2 Samuel 22:1-3 NIV).

          All of us have those moments in life when we encounter pressure that seems almost unbearable. In times like that we are tempted to believe we can’t take it anymore. We start telling ourselves we have to engage in either fight or flight. Fighting involves standing up for what we believe in resisting the opposition every way possible. The alternative involves flight, which is just running away from the situation.

          What I really appreciate about David is his realization that he didn’t have our fight or run. He could seek God’s guidance each time his back was against the wall, and he found himself in a place where he could say I can’t take it anymore. (1 Samuel 23:2, 1 Samuel 30:8, 2 2:1, 2 Samuel 5:23 NIV). As a result of not fighting on his own or running from the pressure David was able to experience the victory that only God can provide.

David describes this deliverance that is now available to all of us by declaring, “The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came to His ears… He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes who were too strong for me” (2 Samuel 22:3-7, 17-18 NIV).

When the pressures of the moment try to drive me into the darkness of hopelessness and despair, I find strength in 2 Samuel 22:29-30 (NIV) where David proclaims, “You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”

I am certain there are times when we have all felt the pressures in the darkness and were not able to see the light that was being created. Noah must have felt the pressure as he worked year after year, building an ark without any sight of rain. I know Abraham must have felt that he could not take it anymore as he waited for a promised son for 25 years. Hannah must have felt the pressure as she went to Shiloh, year after year, begging for a child. Paul felt that he couldn’t take it anymore with a thorn in the flesh as he pleaded with God for a physical healing that did not occur. Even Jesus Himself cried in Matthew 27:46 (NIV), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

How do we keep on going in the midst of darkness and uncertainty as life pushes us over the edge until we feel we can’t take it anymore? Direction for such steadfastness is given in Hebrews 12:2-3 (NIV) “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  

I certainly had to do this when after extensive prayer I felt God leading me in 1971 to terminate my enrollment at Concordia Seminary and enroll in a new ministerial program that Calvary Temple in Fort Wayne, Indiana had started.

The pressure began to build after I wrote my parents and told them of the plans I had and received a letter back from them saying, “Here’s the news if you still care”. Obviously, they were devastated by my career change and the uncertainty it presented. The pressure came to a head on my first day in this “Paul and Timothy” program. Although the class had started weeks earlier, I was allowed to enroll at this late date. It involved a mentoring program under Pastor Paul Paino who was the head pastor at the church.

On that first day one of the pastor’s assistants met me and then handed me a broom and told me to go and sweep the buses. It was on that bus with broom in hand that the battle took place. As I began to sweep Satan began to whisper, “you idiot. You left the seminary. Your wife is in St. Louis and here you are in Fort Wayne sweeping a bus. How much are you going to learn about ministry sweeping a bus? You are one crazy person. Even if you do start a ministry what are you going to use for money to run it?”

The pressure grew as the diabolical thoughts of hopelessness stroked the flames of depression that laid beneath the surface of my existence. I knew at that moment I had a choice. I could choose to listen to this voice of negativism, hopelessness and despair, or I could choose to stand steadfast on God’s leading and on the promises of scriptures. In order to do that I had to take up the full armor of God spoken of in Ephesians 6.

Alone in the middle of that bus with broom in hand I declared out loud, “I am going to sweep this bus for the glory of God. If this is the ministry God has for me at this time then I am going to give Him 100%. After all God loved me so much that he sent His son Jesus to die on that cross so my sins can be forgiven, the least I can do is sweep this bus so it can be used Sunday morning to pick up children and bring them to Sunday School.”

That show down on the bus was important for future times of pressure I had concerning the reality that in my life, “to minister” means to serve. No matter how mundane, routine, or unglamorous the job may be, if I was going to be a minister I must be willing to do it in spite of the pressures.

  After experiencing the victory that day I went back to the attic I was staying in and received a call on the Soul Found house phone. It was my parents and the first words out of their mouth were, “Larry, we just want you to know we love you and are behind you 100%.” Wow, what an answer to prayer!

          Maybe at this time you feel like crying out, “I can’t take it anymore!” It may be in your marriage, your job, or the ministry God has given you.

          Jonah gave up and ended up in the belly of a big fish where he cried out, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry… “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed, I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.” (Jonah 2:2, 7-9 NIV).

          Maybe you, like Jonah, have cried out, “I can’t take it anymore.” And are now in the depths of unbelievable difficulties. Don’t give up. Romans 5:5 (NIV) tells us there is still hope, “and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love onto our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

Noah, Abraham, Hannah, Paul, and many others throughout the Scriptures show us how critical it is not to give up under pressure, but to remain steadfast. We can do this when we know that God has not abandoned us and will bring forth His perfect will at the designated “season” in our lives.

In Psalm 116, we read in verse 3, “the cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow,” following these described pressures, we see how they are handled in verses 4-9. “Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, save me!’ The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simple hearted; when I was in great need, He saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”

   If the pressures are pushing you over the edge and you feel like you can’t take it anymore, remember you don’t have to give up. Instead, you can stand firm and let nothing move you. “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV)

This is possible as you move from the fear of the pressures which are pushing you over the edge into the fear-of the-Lord. This involves daily discovering that the Lord God is gracious, righteous, and full of compassion and protects you in every situation.

There are some days when I feel that pressure is coming from every side. At times I almost feel overwhelmed. Life starts looking negative and hopeless. It is then that my inner spiritual alarms go off and passages like Psalm 50:15 spring to life. There God tells you and me, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”

When you and I feel overwhelmed by pressure, the Scriptures tell us to, “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4 NIV).

In the season of trouble, we will become bitter, not better, if we don’t consider it pure joy knowing that these troubles which test our faith will, if we remain steadfast, develop within us perseverance.

In addition to being equipped with God’s word, if we are going to survive during difficult times, we must also earnestly pray. E. M. Bounds stresses the importance of prayer when we feel we can’t take it anymore, when he states, “prayer in the time of trouble brings comfort, help, hope and blessings which, while not removing the trouble, enable the saint the better to bear it and to submit to the will of God. Prayer opens the eyes to see God’s hand in trouble. Prayer does not interpret God’s providence, but it does justify them and recognize God in them.

  Prayer in trouble drives us away from unbelief, saves us from doubt and delivers us from all vain and foolish questioning because of our painful experiences. Let us not lose sight of the tribute paid to Job when all his troubles came to the culminating point: “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” (Job 1:22 NIV)

Those who refuse to pray, seeking God’s presence and purpose in the middle of trouble and the pressures they bring, are destined to become bitter rather than better. A trip through the troubled deserts of life that was intended to last two years became a forty-year ordeal filled with grumbling and complaining about the children of Israel. When we are going through the season of trouble it is so easy for us to forget that all our worrying and fretting really doesn’t change anything. Jesus asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Luke 12:25 NIV)

Instead of telling yourself that you can’t take it anymore, how much better it is to say, “I am too blessed to be stressed by the pressures, and I must take these troubles to God in prayer.” I have learned that when I pray, instead of worrying or complaining, it is much easier for me to learn and grow from these troubles. As the Psalmist says, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:71 NIV)

D. Elton Trueblood put it this way, “At the profoundest depths of life, people talk not about God but with Him.”

Instead of living in a state of being overwhelmed by pressure, let’s put Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) to work in our lives when it says, “Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

I know from over fifty-three years of experiencing the pressures of ministry that the prayerless Christian is a defeated Christian. In and through prayer, the wonders of creation and the Scriptures, God awakens us to His power to overcome pressure in every situation. That is why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV), “Pray without ceasing.”

Persevering prayer allows us, through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, to be more than conquerors. Remember, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man (and woman) avails much” (James 5:17 NIV).

I want to encourage you if you are saying, “I can’t take it anymore,” give all your troubles to Jesus. If you just keep it all inside, sooner or later, you will just explode like a volcano. Instead of exploding, accept God’s promise that He will not allow you to be tempted more than you can bear (I Corinthians 10:13 NIV).

If you feel like your prayers are just bouncing off the walls around you, get up and go outside. Take a good look at the flowers, the trees, the sky, and everything else God has created around you. Then begin to thank Him for all He has created. As Psalm 150:6 (NIV) says, “Let all that has breath praise the Lord.”

The more we focus on God’s greatness, goodness, and grace by praising Him, the smaller our problems will appear. By doing this, we will be taking a positive step to shut down much of the pressure that tries to oppress us day and night. Abiding in the promises and power of God’s word, along with prayer and praise, will enable us to overcome the pressures of daily living and be “more than conquerors through Him who loves us” (Romans 8:37 NIV).

Once we accept the fact that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus, we will no longer say, I can’t take it anymore. Instead, we will declare, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NIV).

Yours in Christ, 

 Larry Rice