May 5: WAY OF ESCAPE

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Our Savior was anointed for ministry at His baptism (see Matthew 3:16). Immediately after, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (4:1). The very first thing Jesus did was prepare Himself to meet with temptations.

Through forty days of fasting and prayer, He communed with His Father. The Holy Spirit was with Him to bring to mind all the Scriptures He had been taught as a child, probably by His mother. Also, He had been taken to the synagogue each week on the Sabbath to hear the Scriptures read aloud. Jesus had learned, just as all children do. Now He was in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

A reading of this experience, found in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13, shows each of us that the devil presented each temptation to Jesus as a recommendation… Each idea might be a shortcut to a goal, or any suggestion that directs me toward something I understand to be good. This experience of Jesus shows us the adversary’s tactic of simply putting forth an idea, and then stepping back and watching a person carry the idea out. Then, he can go before God and legally accuse the person of wrongdoing. His name, Satan, means accuser. Simultaneously, his claim before God is that the person chose to obey him over God, in a mockery of God’s divine principle of the freedom to choose. We need to learn to recognize the undertone of coercion that accompanies all of Satan’s ‘recommendations.’ By contrast, God is the ultimate gentleman, who never forces His way upon us. Coercion is foreign to Him (see Revelation 3:20).

Every thinking person in this fallen world will be presented with temptations. The way of escape is provided by God in His Word, as well as spiritual discernment, available for the asking (see James 1:5). Jesus began each of his responses to Satan with, “It is written…”

“A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.” *

Beloved, you can and should expect to be tempted. This is the common inheritance of the human race. “God does not save us from temptations—He sustains us in the midst of them.” *

For in that [Jesus] Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are being tempted. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15-16

*Oswald Chambers