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13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Cor 10:13 NKJV
The Conflict
Do you ever feel that there is no way of escape?
You are in a situation that feels impossible.
You agonize over which way to turn as you desperately want to do something that you know is not right.
There you are in the middle. Friends are pressuring you. The boss might be pressuring you.
Are you wondering if compromising is really so bad? All the while, deep down, you are fully aware that it is wrong.
If we are perfectly honest with ourselves, we know the answer. We simply do not want the answer that we know is right.
We Want It Our Way
We want things our way. So we now try to justify the action that we know would be wrong. We try to present to ourselves a plausible reason.
We tell ourselves that certainly, we are the exception. Haven’t we, after all, been good for a long time? Haven’t we worked hard and done so much right?
The argument within ourselves, with ourselves, is endless.
There is no peace because peace is from and of God.
God has not been in the equation at all and we know it. We have excluded God and His Will and replaced it with our own.
We Are Miserable
We are totally miserable. There is no other way to be when we are away from God and His Will for us.
God, however, shows us in today’s verse that the situation and temptation that we are in are perfectly common. It has happened to others and will again. We are not so unique after all. It comes down to the choice to sin or not to sin and it is up to us.
God Is Faithful
Our passage also goes on to assure us that God is faithful.
That is the constant in the midst of all of our turmoil.
God’s faithfulness means, in part, that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle.
He knows we CAN say NO and walk away from the enticing sin, whatever it might be.
In fact, God Himself makes a way to escape.
The Way Out
There is a way out. He shows it to us.
It often comes with saying no to wrong and walking away.
God doesn’t promise that this will be easy but it does come with the relief of knowing we have done right.
It comes with the realization that we have followed God and not the devil.
It comes with the knowledge that in the end, this will be the right choice despite the pain of the moment.
The Peace
There is such peace after the pain.
We feel relief beyond words as we rest in the place God puts us.
We Know we have done as He wanted for us.
God made an escape for us and led us through, out of sin’s pull and into the perfect light of His Love.