The Apostle Paul is a great historian of the faith. Any chance he gets he reminds the
followers of Jesus through his letters how messed up of a job Israel did at
following God’s commands. I mean
here in this passage he brings up two VERY SPECIFIC times where Israel went so
far off track from following the Lord that it cost them severely [Exodus 17 &
Numbers 25]. Temptations do
nothing but trap us & we need to get out from under them to survive or
they’ll erode our SOULS & steal from us the life Christ would have for us.
I’ve was trapped in a large snow slide once as a
teenager. It scared me instantly
because the rumors are true, you don’t know which way is up or down. I’m thankful that I actually remember
what everyone is always taught for this scenario…spit & watch where gravity takes your
saliva. Once I figured which way
was down, I could actually start digging towards the opposite direction. Back
to Paul & these verses…
When we are tempted & we give in to the temptation, we
sin against the Holiness of the Lord.
We get trapped by sin & forget how to get away. Look at verses 12 & 13 a little
closer. In a sense Paul challenges the
Corinthian church (as well as us today) that if you take a “stand” against the
temptation you’re in trouble. Now
this phrase isn’t saying to just succumb to the temptation, but the phrase
actually means more “to outwit or use knowledge” against the temptation. If the source of the temptation is
Satan there is no way we can use our finite knowledge to rationalize a plan of
escape. But following to verse 13
we can rely on the direction God will guide us for escape!
I rejoice at this!
We know we are going to be tempted in
this fallen & broken world but in that temptation the Lord knows about it
& will provide a way out for us.
He’ll shows us how to climb the other way towards safety.
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