“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
Three times in recent days I have found myself involved in discussions that have arisen over the issue of temptation and this scripture has come up each time. In one discussion we were doing a comparative overview of the temptation of Eve (Genesis 3:6), the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4), and John’s comment that “all that is in the world” is one of three things – lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or pride of life. Our review of the three sciptures led us to consider the way that Eve responded to temptation compared to the way that Jesus responded to temptation and the way in which we are to respond to temptation. When we came to the obvious conclusion that Jesus’ response to temptation was to turn to the Word, suddenly it dawned on me that, of course, God has provided a way out for all of us in any temptation……through the truth of His Word!
I think sometimes we are looking for something or someone miraculous or supernatural to pull us out of the tempting circumstances in which we find ourselves, or we are looking to have some kind of superhuman strength of will in ourselves to resist when, all along, we should simply (and powerfully) be relying on the promises and principles of scripture. If we have spent time in the Word, it should be readily available to us to remind us in any circumstance what is the proper way. This “reminding” us of the Word is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Amazing how I’ve always heard that scripture and, until just this week never made the connection of it to Jesus’ example of how to respond to temptation.