When a new motorway junction was being completed, a real danger was discovered. The bridges had been designed to bear their own weight—but not the traffic they were intended to carry. Before the motorway could be opened, several bridges had to be re-engineered and rebuilt.

Engineers have to be especially concerned with the tensile strength of the material in their construction plans for structures that are required to bear large amounts of stress due to weight. Ten­sile strength is the maximum amount of stretching a material can withstand before it tears. If the engineer miscalculates, the structure may collapse under the pressure.

When we are under the weight of stress and hardship, we may wonder whether our Lord, who engineered us, has miscalculated our personal ‘tensile strength’. We are certain that we are going to collapse under the weight of the trials, but our Designer knows exactly what we can handle by His grace. He knows our limits and will never permit more than we can bear. As Bible teacher Ron Hutchcraft said, “God may send a load, but He never sends an overload!”

Reinforced by the steel of God’s provision, our tensile strength won’t fail.

Author

Bill Crowder

Topics

Our Daily Bread