A Way of Escape

 

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

I have read this verse, heard it quoted, seen it on different signs and artwork for many years. One thing I can tell you is that it has to be one of the more misunderstood pieces of scripture out there.

People believe that this verse, this wonderful example of God's provision, indicates that he will bail us out of any and all problems we face. I believed that too, but I have come to see that it is simply not the case.

For those of you just finding this now, my name is Sam. I am a mid-thirties white male. I stand here today, working 4 jobs, trying to squeeze every ounce of energy, and time, I can before falling asleep next to the love of my life and doing it all over and over again 7 days a week, for the last 2 years.

Temptation exists

This verse starts out saying that not only is temptation a thing, but there's not any unique temptation that you or anyone else in all of human kind has faced or will ever face. I'll let that sink in for you. Temptation definitely exists in this world and it comes in all shapes and sizes. The hardest part about temptation is that it does not come after you where you are strong! It attacks your weakness, it preys upon your insecurities, and feeds on your prejudices. Make no mistake, temptation strikes us all the same, but with different targets. Let us use this example: Two people, one has an issue with pornography, the other, alcoholism. It will not target the alcoholic with a sultry image or thoughts of a sexual encounter that happened at one point. It will target the alcoholic with "man you have had a hard day, maybe just a quick beer." Temptation plays a longer con most often, with brief bouts of what I will call manic fury. Imagine temptation like Bilbo in the Fellowship of the Ring. He's talking to Frodo, all kindly like, then sort of half asks if he can see the ring. By that point, Frodo has no clue just how much influence the ring has on him, what he's dealing with and has NO REASON to believe he's not over it. He starts to show it to him, but Bilbo starts moving to him and acts very strangely. Frodo starts to put the ring away and Bilbo (in the film) turns half way scary and screams at him. Then calms down and the temptation passes.

This is a great picture for us going forward because the temptation is always there. God never ever ever promises to remove the temptation, he promises to not allow the temptation to push past where you can handle. What does that mean though? How can that be true when you see people make mistakes and screw up in the face of temptation all the time?

The line

The major problem, which I think you see, is the line. If you believe, like I do, that the bible is inspired by God, written by man, how does this verse compute? I have been tempted more often than I can count on a number of different things that in many cases I failed to say no to. I then, in frustration with myself, apologized to God, called on the name of Jesus, and found forgiveness. I am sure I am not the only one who has dealt with that. I was thinking about just this problem where temptation comes in and entices, then we have a choice, and it became clear to me that temptation can seem overwhelming. The problem of the line is that it changes for every person. Not only does it change with each person facing it, but also it changes with every different sin that a person deals with. I have never been tempted by alcohol, so that line of temptation isn't there. But for some other areas, like sexual sin, or lying, my line is really far too close to me. And the enemy will push things our way just to the line, just to see if we react. Will we step over and grab ahold of what is there? 

The Way of Escape

The interesting thing about this verse to me is the idea that there's always a way of escape. There is always some direction that we may or may not be able to see that calls to us, reminding us that it is there and that we have the opportunity to take it. That verse where Jesus describes the way of salvation being a narrow road that few find I think this is what he is talking about. There may be a couple of gleanings we can take from Jesus. The bible says in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin. How so? If he was fully human, how did he get out of sin? Well the answer is that he was fully God too... Ok, that's cheating right? There's only 1 Jesus, right? No one like him, how then can we be like him? How can he sympathize with us? Jesus, when he was tempted the 3 times in the desert, and again in the garden prior to his crucifixion, saw the way out. He quoted scripture to tackle the temptation head on. That brings me to my first point. We have to be willing to tackle the temptation head on. Not in fear or shame, but we willing to quote scripture, to put ourselves out there in community with someone who can help support us, or ask for help from a family member. The problem with temptation is that too few of us are willing to be vulnerable enough to ask for help. We go around hiding our sin and our struggles from our closest friends. We need their help to push us back to the word of God and show us the way out. The second thing I want to point out is that while there is no one like Jesus, no man, his divine spirit indwells believers. The holy spirit is not your moral compass, it IS your spiritual guide. God the father allowed the third part of himself to dwell with man and indwell us. That means his presence will help us find the way out of any situation if we just learn to wait on and listen to Him. We have that same capacity to escape temptation and it's direct offshoot sin by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us to be more like Christ. That's how we put on Christ (Romans 13:14), that's how we can become victorious in this life at facing temptation.

We won't always win the battles, but those are the Lord's anyways, so rather that fight him, fight sin, "...and the things that so easily entangle and run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1)