1 Corinthians 10:13

New International Version (NIV)

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it.

For meditation

You’re standing there, alone in the empty office. Your eyes can’t miss the package among the pile of papers strewn all over the floor. The moving truck left five hours ago. Busted on the edge, it reveals a stack of the green-colored papers with a balding Benjamin Franklin staring at you with a grin. Your mind races back to your child’s school fees you could pay and the gift you could finally give your wife. You chanced into this place, and nobody knows or saw you.

1. Do you take it or walk away? Will anybody ever know? Couldn’t this be God’s answer to your prayer?
2. Don’t we face such situations like that all the time? What’s our normal tendency?
3. How many scenarios play in our mind at such times and do we consider the holiness of God in making choices? How many arguments suggest it’s OK and that God understands? Does He even care about our dilemma and weakness?
4. Do we know we’re not alone; for who is never tempted? How many giants of faith haven’t been given us in the Bible as examples in settings of temptation? So, what makes ours different from anybody’s, except the way we deal with it?
5. Isn’t it welcoming to be reminded that we serve a faithful God? Do you know how much He loves us and will never leave us when tempted, but will always open an escape hatch for us when the thermometer hits ceiling level (1 Cor. 10:13)? Do we want to take it or not?

I pray we will know that we have a choice in every temptation and that God never leads us into a tempting situation that leaves us no option, but to capitulate. He always provides the strength to endure and a door of escape for us to use. Our choice is always between Joseph (Gen. 39:9) and David (2 Sam. 11:4).

So: May we hold God’s holiness in mind at all times and determine to never offend Him under any circumstance; and may grace uphold us, as we soak yourself in prayer before and when we stand in temptation.

Shalom