There is a old joke that says, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Today’s scripture reading tells us that is not true.
1 Corinthians 10:13
“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.
In other words, you can handle It
It is sad that so many believe that the temptation can be too much. The world loves the idea of temptation being beyond our control and thus has created the idea of addiction. One cannot deny the stranglehold that bad habits can have on us, but most things are not addictions, but rather compulsions.
You may decide that you do not want to resist the temptation, but it is never greater than you can resist. Too often we just give in and then fell back on the excuse of the temptation was too great. How can we know that we can resist any temptation? If you read 1 Corinthians 10:13 you will see that God promises us that He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle.
How can we know that this is always true? The text answers that question – because “God is faithful.” When I claim there was no escape from the temptation then I am accusing God of being unfaithful. He says He will not allow the temptation to be too great for us. We should believe that He is faithful.
In the book of Job, Satan wanted to lash out against Job, but first had to get God’s permission. God told him that he could, but told him how far he could go.
As hard as things were for Job, God sat boundaries to protect him. After Job passed the first test Satan came back to God to ask for permission to hit Job even harder. Each step of the way God was deciding how much Job could be tempted.
According to our text, He does that for you and me. All of this is implied in the often used phrase, “God will not give us more than we can handle.” Whatever your trial might be, you can handle it. I know this because God is faithful!
Lonnie Davis