A Way Out

SYNOPSIS: Your battle with temptation is winnable! That’s good news. There’s always an escape route—always—when you are being enticed to break God’s law. And not only is there a way out when you are tempted, but it is God himself who will provide that way of escape; he will make a way. God has provided the door, but here’s the deal: You and I must look for it; we must walk through it!

Project 52—Memorize:
I Corinthians 10:13

“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.”

Did you catch that? Your battle with temptation is winnable. The last part of the verse says so: “When you are tempted, he will also provide a way out.”

That’s good news. There’s always an escape route—always—when you are being enticed to break God’s law. And not only is there a way out when you are tempted, but it is God himself who will provide that way of escape; he will make a way. God has provided the door, but here’s the deal: You and I must look for it; we must walk through it!

Are those escape routes mysterious, accessible only to the spiritually elite, hard to grasp and even harder to enter?  Not at all—they are very clear, quite simple, and easy to access.

One way of escape is to immerse yourself in Scripture. Psalm 119:9 & 11 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

That’s how Jesus battled temptation in the wilderness. Every time the tempter came at him with something that would tear him away from his Father, Jesus came back at Satan with the truth of Scripture. There is no more potent weapon against temptation in your life than in reading systematically, meditating daily, and memorizing strategically God’s Word.

Another escape route from temptation is to become accountable to another believer, especially for your particular weakness. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We need to bring our temptation into the light of accountability to other people—as difficult as that may be.

Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” You would do yourself a huge favor by finding someone with whom you can be accountable for your weakness.

And yet another way out is to ask God to deliver you daily from the tempter. Jesus taught us to pray a daily prayer that acknowledges both our weakness and our need for divine power in this area: “Deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)

As simple as that sounds, the amazing thing is, God hears those prayers. And he always provides a way out.

“Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.”  ~Martin Luther

Reflect & Apply: As you are meditating on 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, look more closely at the ways we have identified as God’s way out for you.  Can you connect them in specific ways to the common temptations you are facing? Can you identify other “ways out” the Bible teaches that God has given you in every temptation? Today, look for those divine exits—and take them.