Day 7: A Way Out
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 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 (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).
Our Father in heaven, in the God-breathed Scriptures You have given us (2 Timothy 3:16) You provide an account of Your interaction with Your ancient people—the special love, compassion, favor, and privilege You gave to them, fulfilling Your covenant promise to Abraham. But the promise was to be ultimately fulfilled in the Son You would send to redeem all humanity.
The Scriptures show us Your people's pilgrimage from slavery to the land of promise. Yet every detail was only a symbol of the far greater liberation of humanity from sin and bondage and into the blessing You had promised. The apostle Paul explained it this way to the Corinthian believers:
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all... baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that accompanied them, and that Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).
O Lord what a difference this makes to our understanding when we realize these are not just stories with no relevance to our times! For this clearly shows us that we are part of Your still unfolding story. Moreover, we are told that these accounts are given to us to serve as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. (1 Corinthians 10:6).
All of the things that caused God to be displeased with most of them— the things that caused many of them to be destroyed— idolatry, sexual immorality, testing Christ, grumbling (1 Corinthians 10:5-10)— are things we are still confronted with today. But often, when we go through times of temptation, testing, spiritual battles, and difficulties, we feel that our experience is unique, isolating, and unrelatable.
Yet, we are told this is precisely why we were given these accounts in Scripture: These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:5-11).
Help us, O Lord, to pray for each other, realizing that we face these struggles in common. Help us to be more ready to pray than to criticize or point fingers— even as we staunchly stand for truth and righteousness. Guard us against the spiritual pride that would make us believe we are standing too firm to fall.
Encourage those in the crucible today. Help us to remember that You will not let us be tempted or tested above what we can endure. You will make a way out.
Comments