Contributor:
Chad Roberts
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but with the temptation make a way to escape.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
No Temptation has overtaken you
Have you ever been blindsided by life? Ever had the rug pulled out from under you and all of a sudden, you find yourself in a difficult circumstance? Through all the years I have been a pastor, I have walked through numerous situations with families. I’m amazed how quickly life can change. We lose loved ones, we suffer sicknesses, we face financial distress or some other type of fierce test. The meaning of, “overtaken you” literally means to be suddenly seized by.
Life has a way of “suddenly seizing” us, does it not? When these seasons come to our life, the Bible tells us how we should handle them. Let’s continue to explore this verse.
Common to man
Paul reminds us that these situations that can seem to overtake us is, what he calls, common to man.” I really love that phrase. It reminds me that I am not facing anything that other people of God has not faced.
I see this a lot in marriage counseling. When we go through marriage problems, they can feel unique to our family, but in reality, most marriage problems are not unique at all. Most problems are very common. They typically fall under communication problems, expectation problems, or something similar to these.
Think about when a part breaks on your vehicle. If your car needs a new water pump or something like that has to be replaced, a good mechanic can diagnose the problem and find the solution. Marriage counseling, as well as other trials of life, are common to man. Whatever it is we face in life, others are facing as well. God has grace, He has answers and there are solutions. So do not allow Satan to tell you that you are the only one going through something.
Peter instructs us,” Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). Satan would have you think God is picking on you or mad at you, but the truth is, your trials and testings, as well as mine, are common to man.
God is Faithful
Ask yourself, “Why would Satan want me to believe that God is angry with me or picking on me?” Because he wants us blind to the fact that, “God is faithful.” When we understand that our testings are common to man, we can also understand that just as God has helped others, He will surely help us! Is that not encouraging?
This is one of the reasons I love to read, study, and write on the Heroes of the Faith. When I read about the endurance of their faith, it gives my own faith endurance. God was faithful to them, so I know that God will be faithful to me. How do I know this? Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
So let us calculate what we have gained so far from this one verse of Scripture. We understand that even in times that problems of life “overtake” us or “seize” us, the problems we encounter are not unique to us, but are common to everyone. Because these are situations every child of God, through every generation have faced, then we can be confident that as God was faithful to them, so God will be faithful to us. Now let us unpack the rest of this verse!
May Be Able to Endure It
The Greek word for Able in verse 10 has a beautiful meaning. The word is Dunimai. It means to be able to, to be capable of, to be strong enough to do or to have power to do something. In other words, the word Paul uses to describe the way we should face trials and testings is a word that says God gives us the ability to handle whatever comes to us.
What an incredible promise from God’s Word. Because God is faithful, with His faithfulness, He is going to give you the power or the “dunimai or the sovereign, supernatural ability to handle whatever happens to you. No wonder James tells us in James 1:2, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” Why can we count every trail as joy? Because with every trial comes God’s ability and unique grace to handle it.
A Way of Escape
The best part of this verse. What is a way of escape? It is a path to victory. It is not that God will give you the grace to avoid trouble. It is that God will give you the grace and strength to take it head-on. He will take you through it! This is why Paul reminds us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
Christ is the escape! We are not looking to go around trails, we are looking go through them with the help God promises us! Think about it, not only is God faithful but with that faithfulness, He gives us divine power (Dunimai) to be able to handle every situation. The pressure is not on us, instead, the pressure is on God. The good news is that God is faithful.
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