God with us - Week 24: 1 Corinthians 10:13
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
1 Corinthians 10:13
"God will never give you more than you can handle."
This phrase has popped up regularly as I've prepped for the blog, but this is not what 1 Corinthians 10:13 is talking about at all! It would be fantastic if it were, but in the context of this quote, temptation appears to be used interchangeably with the word trial. I find little to back up the idea that this was Paul's intention. Paul knew that, at times, life feels unbearable as he talked about it in 2 Corinthians.
8 Brothers and sisters, you need to know about the severe trials we experienced while we were in western Turkey. All of the hardships we passed through crushed us beyond our ability to endure, and we were so completely overwhelmed that we were about to give up entirely. 9 It felt like we had a death sentence written upon our hearts, and we still feel it to this day. It has taught us to lose all faith in ourselves and to place all of our trust in the God who raises the dead.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 (TPT)
It's unlikely Paul would write to the Corinthians telling them that God was never going to give them a challenge too big for them to handle and then report back again to say, "Oh actually, I've changed my mind, Turkey's been a nightmare!"
1 Corinthians 10:13 is talking about temptation, which is the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. Paul made it clear that when it comes to temptation, none of us get a free pass. Even Jesus faced temptation as it's part and parcel of the human experience.
I belong to a denomination where many members sign a covenant promising not to drink alcohol. Now, we can get into the Biblical rights and wrongs of that, but go with the basic idea that if you make a promise to God, it's a good idea to try and keep it! As a teenager, I would see my friends struggling to keep this promise, giving in to the temptation to drink on a Saturday night and feeling guilty on a Sunday morning. I was never that tempted by alcohol. I'd taken a sip, decided it tasted unpleasant and didn't really think about it again. Unlike others I witnessed, I never felt morally superior to those who did give in to that temptation. I recognised that resisting alcohol didn't make me stronger than anyone else. It's hardly an outstanding achievement to resist something you're not bothered about, and if you gave me a jar of Nutella or a packet of custard creams, I could polish the lot off in no time! Comfort eating was my temptation, and it was no better or worse than anyone else's.
We are all tempted to do foolish things that potentially cause us, or others, harm. It's an ordinary part of life, and many of us recognise our weak points and try to resist the temptation ourselves. We use grit, resolve, and willpower, none of which are particularly effective if my experience is anything to go by.
Temptation is ordinary, but our God is not.
He is faithful.
Giving in to the same temptation repeatedly can feel overwhelming at times, but it's not inevitable.
Paul assures us that God is with us even when we are tempted, always providing an escape route if we choose to take it.
Step into God's grace this week and take an honest look at the ordinary temptations you regularly give in to.
Then, take hope in 1 Corinthians 10:13.
This cycle isn't endless or inevitable.
God is faithful and will always provide a way for us to escape the ordinary!
Kay Moorby
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