He Delivers Us From Temptation

He, the God of heaven and earth, the God of everything, always meets us right where we are. To all believers in Christ this is foundationally the most basic understanding of our faith. It is this aspect of the Father that permeates throughout every jot of scripture. A holy God, whose perfect standard could never be achieved by any one of us, doing the necessary work for us. A loving God, who does this not out of pity for us unworthy sinners, but out of a passionate desire to have fellowship with us. So much so that He sent His only son to take our place of punishment in order that we may enter in. Enter into a relationship with Him!

If that’s not meeting us right where we are, I don’t know what is. I dare you to find a better example! You can’t, because such constant love as this is foreign to man. Only something supernatural could fulfill the requirements of a perfect, sinless being graciously choosing to die for the inferior and guilty. Only the Creator of the universe. Only Jesus Messiah! Yes, only Him!

He delivers us from death. He delivers us from sin. He delivers us from temptation. In dying on the cross He offered the way for all three of these deliverances. Death entered through sin and sin likewise offers the entrance to death. Temptation is the gateway to both. When Jesus’ blood was shed their effects were rendered dead! Being delivered from these spiritual chains is what delivers us into the arms of the Father!

There’s nothing we could do to defeat those death traps on our own. Again, this is the Lord meeting us right where we are! The path to salvation is the greatest expression of that truth. But even after we have entered into a relationship with Him, He continues to meet us where we are. One of the ways He does this is by offering us a means of escape every time any temptation to sin is on the horizon.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says this, “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.” This verse makes it clear that God is not cruel or unrealistic about His expectations of mankind. He knows we are weak and offers His helping grace at every turn.

In this, none of us are tempted more or in heavier ways than another. We have all faced the same tempting weight because our collective flesh’s temptations are universal. There is only so much of it that we can possibly endure before we give in though. Only the Lord knows the limitations of our strength and will not allow that line of endurance to be breached unless we willingly desire the breach more than Him. He always provides an escape, the choice to take it is always ours.

Maybe you doubt that the Almighty intervenes in the temptations of believers. I can assure you that He does! I’d like to share with you several means of escape that the Lord has offered me, and almost certainly offers you, to prove it. One major way of escape that is never a step away is the freedom we have to pray for strength to turn away. Another available option is to open His Word for a bit of discernment and/or encouragement to abandon temptation’s course. But, we are often so caught up in the allure of available temptation that we forget these easily accessible alternatives. When that’s the case, an interruption from a loved one usually reveals the route.

There’s no question that we’ll never be able to overcome sin’s tempting on our own. We need His ways of escape. We need Him to be our ultimate escape! Thank God that today I can leave you with this simple promise: He delivers us from temptation!

“No matter how many broken things in your life that have left you feeling unprepared and disadvantaged, God meets you right where you are with his powerful grace and works to restore you to what only grace can make you be.” – Paul Tripp

“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” – II Timothy‬ ‭4:18‬