With Testing He Will Also

Provide The Way

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

One of the best ways to overcome temptation is to avoid what appeals to our weaknesses. All believers are tempted to sin. Yet they need not give in. The Lord provides the way to be victorious over evil enticements. But we must do our part. Sometimes that involves avoiding situations that would contribute to our spiritual defeat. Run away from the evil desires of youth. If possible, we should never let ourselves be in the wrong places or with people who will tempt us to do the things we should be avoiding.

We fall into temptation when we don't flee from it.

Our Daily Bread - January 29, 2005