As we look at the state of our nation things seem to be on fire. Our police are being gunned down; people are stabbed, shot, assaulted for no reason other than randomness. Criminals commit their crimes from shoplifting to looting, to murder and then roam our streets shortly thereafter to assault, burn, and kill again with impunity. Thousands and thousands and thousands (and more) walk across our borders without surcease then are flown under the cover of darkness to wherever they want to go at our expense.
But then we read a text in the Bible like I Cor. 10:13 and we then say that God won't give us more than we can handle. But . . .
There are three words that without fail, will lead us to misunderstand the Bible, perverting it to say what it's not saying. Those three words are, "Ignore the context." Every word, every sentence, and every paragraph in the Bible occur within a context. The context equals "the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage." The context greatly determines the meaning of the text.
I Corinthians 10:13 furnishes a case in point. The verse says, "No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide
the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." Once taken out of its context, people say, "God will give you no more than you can handle." But . . .
Is that true? What about the Nazi's "final solution," the Holocaust for those who didn't survive it and those who did. Six million Jews, gone, executed with Nazi efficiency. What about WWI? We see film clips of the Allied soldiers out of their minds, hands and bodies shaking so badly they can't stop it. They're not in a battle nor going into one; they're in a hospital. No matter how hard they try, it goes on and on and on.
Let's look at it another way--if it's true that God gives us no more than we can handle, what do we need Him for? We can deal with everything that comes our way if that's the case. But if we can't handle it, then we learn what dependence, humility, and faith in Him and His Word are all about.
When we put I Corinthians 10:13 back into its context, then we discover what Paul is saying. We ask the question, "What does 'temptation' mean in the context of I Corinthians 10?" The answer is that Paul has been writing about the Exodus generation who "craved evil things" (vs. 6), idolatry (vs.7), immorality (vs. 8), and complaining (vs. 9). Those are the" temptations" about which Paul is writing, temptations to sin as the Israelites did.
He's saying that when we're tempted to sin those particular sins and all other sins, God has made a way of escape from succumbing to them. He has given us free will for one thing; it's not foreordained that we sin because God is not the author of sin. We can, as Nancy Reagan said, "Just say no." Or as in the case of Joseph, his way of escape was literally to escape and run out of the room. Or as the Psalmist wrote, "Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." Those are some of our "escapes."
As the story goes, a little boy was in the pantry in which there were many delights to eat before dinner. His mother called for him and asked, "Where are you?". He answered truthfully, "I'm in the pantry." She asked, "What are you doing in there? He replied, "I'm resisting temptation."
The way to escape the pantries in our lives is either don't go in the pantry or get out of the pantry if you're in it.
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