No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13)
The Way of Escape
What is the purpose of this, "way of escape," promised by Paul? To GET OUT of the trial? No. "That you might be able to bear it." In other words, God's way of escape has to do with escaping defeat in a trial. Not escaping the trial itself. The, "escape," is whatever enables you TO BEAR THE TRIAL.
If you don't believe that, then good luck trying to figure out how to escape your trial. You will find that if it is OF GOD that you cannot escape unless you compromise with the Truth. God doesn't want you to escape the trial. The trial is OF HIM. He wants you to overcome BY FAITH.
"The way of escape," out of a trial is death and resurrection in Christ. But make no question about it, we can always choose another way – that will spare us the Cross. This is not a matter of losing our salvation. It is a matter of losing the freedom and revelation God had for us through the trial. Christian people today are encouraged all the time to escape the hand of God, calling His hand the Devil.
Natural thinking suggests that the issue in a trial of faith is how to end the trial. We ask, "God, what do you want me to DO?" Or we say, "What do I need to do to get God to end this trial?" Indeed, many of us think that ending the trial is the victory over the trial. But God never works from that angle. Ending a trial is never the victory.
Ending unbelief is the victory. Again – faith IS the victory.
Excerpted from : THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH by David A. DePra at THE GOOD NEWS © 1998-2005. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).
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