The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13
I am not a fan of roller coasters. I do not even really like the kid roller coasters at Disney World. I have found recently, however, that there is one type of ride I really love: 4-dimensional rides that make you feel like you are flying without actually going anywhere. While I will rarely ride a roller coaster, I will ride any ride that is 3 or 4 dimensional. I will ride any of these rides because I know that all I have to do is close my eyes, and I can escape from the ride's effects. I know that there is a way out. On a much grander scale, when we face temptations, Scripture teaches that there is also a way of escape. There is a way out of temptation so that we do not have to give in to the temptation and sin.
Paul addresses the reality of temptation in 1 Corinthians 10. "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure" (verse 13). This verse is full of hopeful truths. The first is this: we are not alone in our temptation. Our temptations are not any different than anything other people are experiencing. This means that our temptations are not tailor-made for us. They are not new. Satan is not creative in the way he tempts us. This means that we have power over them. We are not alone in our temptations. The second truth is that God is faithful. He never leaves us and walks with us through our temptations. The third truth is that God will not allow our temptation to be more than we can stand. That means that no temptation is strong enough to overtake us. Finally, the last truth found in this verse is that there is a way out of our temptation. This means that we are not stuck in our temptation. We have an option, should we choose to take it, not to give in. My friends, this should give you hope! God walks with us through temptation and offers us a way to escape.
Whatever temptation you are having, there is a way out. Now, it's certainly not going to be as easy as closing your eyes to escape a 3-dimensional ride, but Scripture promises that there is a way out of your temptation. The question is, will you have the discipline to take that way of escape? You can have victory over any temptation you are facing. If you turn to Him and look for ways of escape, God will faithfully walk with you all the way through it.
Take a few moments and think about the temptations that you are struggling with. Make a list of the different ways of escape from these temptations that God has made available to you. When you know how God has provided ways of escape ahead of time, you can better take those escape routes when temptation arises.
I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
