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Today's Pathway: I Corinthians 10:13-14 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

Paul has spent the last several verses warning the Corinthians of the potential spiritual disaster they might face if they failed to keep their focus continually on the Lord. As they became complacent in their relationship with God, and began to trust themselves rather than Him, they were headed for a fall. They would become like the Old Testament Israelites: idolaters, fornicators, men who tried to see how much they could get away with, and people who complained about the conditions that God placed them in. This is a very bleak outlook for the Corinthians, and it could make any Christian very discouraged. A believer might ask, "If the Israelites, who had seen first hand the power of God, couldn't resist temptation, how can I ever hope to resist?" So, in verse 13 Paul gives us a very encouraging answer to that question.

We need to start by defining "temptation". We normally think of this word as meaning a temptation to sin, but it also can refer to being tested. Alexander Maclaren distinguished between the two this way:

"Temptation says, 'Do this pleasant thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is wrong.' Trial says, 'Do this right and noble thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is painful.'"

Paul says that all our temptations are "common to man". We are prone to think that the problems we face are somehow unique to us, and that no one else has ever had to endure the issues that we are dealing with. It is this thinking that allows people to justify their unbiblical decisions. Their reasoning goes something like this: "I know the Bible says that I shouldn't do this, but because of my special circumstances I think God will understand why I am doing it, and He'll agree with me." Paul says that this is not the case. Everything temptation I encounter has been encountered by multitudes of believers down through the centuries. Some failed to handle it properly and some dealt with it successfully. But each individual Christian will give an account of his response to God.

Next, Paul reminds his readers of the faithfulness of God. If we have been placed into a difficult situation, God knows all about it. If we are faced with the temptation to sin, God's Word is always correct. Even if we don't understand what is going on, the Lord is still making all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). He is faithful, and thus I need to trust Him, which means I trust His Word, His leading, and His love for me.

One of the ways that God shows His faithfulness is that He will never allow a temptation or trial to come into my life that I can not handle with His help. This fact should be a tremendous encouragement to us! Here is the promise: if I am encountering it, then I can handle it, because if I couldn't handle it, I wouldn't be encountering it. Some might say, "This is too big a problem and I can't deal with it!" That isn't true. If we choose to rely on what God has told us in the Scriptures then we can deal with it properly, for He has left us a way of escape. What is the escape? Trusting God and doing exactly what He says in His Word.

Because of these facts, Paul tells his readers to "flee from idolatry". Temptations may have been surrounding them, but their faithful Lord knew all about it. and promised that they did not need to succumb to iniquity. They simply needed to choose to obey Him and run as far from the sin as they possibly could. So the question for us is this: Are we giving in to the temptations and trials that we face? Or are we trusting God and fleeing from them?