Look for your nearest exit

Here’s another verse that says a mouthful! Again I’ll take it piece by piece….

In my last post, I stressed God’s faithfulness, though it wasn’t explicitly stated in that passage. This passage proclaims it loud and clear:

“…and God is faithful…”

We all say a lot of things, and technology and social media make it easier to send our words both quickly and broadly. So quickly and broadly that we can easily say things we don’t really mean once we’ve had a second to think about it, sometimes after hitting “send”. Or maybe we do really mean it, but we can’t keep up with all the things we promise. Well, rest assured: God is not like that. When we read in this verse “…who will…” we know the answer—God will! He always keeps His word, and never says something rashly that He doesn’t really mean or can’t possibly fulfill. We can count on His promises, including His promise to

“…not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able…”

Do you ever feel stretched to the limit? If you are a growing Christian, good chance there are times when you are being stretched uncomfortably as God is working in you to mature you into Christlikeness, but you’ll never be stretched beyond what you are able to endure. Yet sometimes the pressures seem to be surrounding us and succumbing to temptation seems inevitable. What then?

“…but with the temptation [God] will provide the way of escape also…”

Our church’s pastor frequently reminds us to “Look for the exit.” Aren’t you glad to know that there is a way out when you are under pressure to sin? You don’t have to give in—God is providing a way of escape with the temptation. One of the exits that I use to escape sin is eliminating certain TV shows and movies from my watch list because I recognized some shows I liked to watch only feed my discontentment, while others were feeding my anxiety! I simply do not watch them or consider watching them, even when I hear how great this week’s show was, or friends tell me, “Just watch this episode.” (I admit, that was a tempting justification, when a very dramatic moment was unfolding in some of my favorite characters lives!) In faith, I’ve taken the exit of eliminating those shows, even though it means that I miss out on a good episode. I don’t need to know “what happened this week”; I need to take God’s way of escape! Another “exit” for me was moving the candy dish out of sight, from the end table into a cupboard. I am one of those people who joke about being on a “seafood diet”, as in I “see food” and automatically want to eat it. But lacking self-control is no joke, and I want to take the exit in situations where I’m tempted. The way of escape may be a literal exit, such as simply leaving the room when the conversation in a group starts pushing sin-buttons, or walking out of a bar or a theatre. Are you conscious of the “exits” that you need to locate?

Last time I was on a plane, I felt self-conscious as I looked around for my nearest exit, because I appeared to be the only one doing so. But I really shouldn’t have felt that way—I was the one following the directions of the crew. I was the one mindful of the safety instructions. In life we might experience this too—the sense of sticking out or being viewed as weird for “looking for the exits”. Don’t give in to that pressure! Those exits are a gift from God who doesn’t abandon you to be overwhelmed by temptation! He’s providing the exits. Our part is to look for them and run to them when the heat is on. Why is this so important?

”…so that you will be able to endure it.”

Our loving Heavenly Father doesn’t want us crushed or overwhelmed by temptation. He wants us to endure it, and He’s providing a way for us to endure. Next time temptation is hounding you, remember that God has provided a way out, and look for it. Don’t let peer pressure keep you inside the burning building of sin!

Okay, now it’s time to loop back to the beginning of the verse. Did you notice that I skipped a piece? This phrase has some really good news for us, too, and it’s something I’ve been pondering lately

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man…”

I’ve been familiar with this verse for decades, and I took for granted that I understood it, but lately I’ve realized that I had subconsciously changed its meaning. My concept of this phrase was something more along the lines of “when it comes to your sin struggles, you’re not the only one.” While that idea is certainly included in this phrase, it comes short of the precision of this verse, which assures us that our temptations are common among humankind. See the difference? With some of my more frustrating and discouraging temptations, I was more of the mindset that there are others out there somewhere who understand my struggle, as if I’m stranded on my desert island and somewhere out there are others also on their desert isles. As I spent time meeting with a group of women over the summer and opened up about some of the things I was struggling with, I found myself really surprised by my friends’ responses that they too have experienced these things…once or twice I even got a response of “everybody feels that way sometimes”. That’s when it hit me what this verse is really telling me: in contrast to my lonely desert isle of temptation, reality is more like running the NYC Marathon; I’m surrounded by others on the same journey, wrestling with the same struggles, learning and growing alongside me, cheering me on to finish the race!

I don’t know what struggles you’re facing as you read this, friend, but I hope you will know the peace of trusting God—taking Him at His word—especially when He says that your struggles are common to man—and that you will look for, and run to, God’s way of escape. And find some fellow believers that you can open up to—unlike my air travel experience, I think you’ll find that you aren’t the only one looking for the exits!

Heavenly Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for the way you’ve provided to help me deal with temptation. Thank you for your promise that my struggles are experienced by many of those around me. Thank you for the exits that you put in place so that I don’t get trapped under an overwhelming burden of temptation! Help me never to be self-conscious about looking for, and taking, the way out when I find myself being tempted, and help me be an encouragement to my fellow-runners as they, too, strive to resist sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.