The Only Way Out and the Only Way Forward - iBelieve Truth - May 13, 2024
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13
What a gift it is to know that Jesus is our only way out of the hardest seasons in our lives. Because we were offered the gift to be in a relationship with Him, He is, by God’s grace, our only way forward. Not just into eternity, but during our time here on earth as well.
I recently got to speak with the youth group at our church, and I shared with the students the way God used 1 Corinthians 10:13 to show me the truth that He is my only way out and only way forward in this life, sharing how this changed my walk with Christ forever: "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." We see here that God has given us an incredible promise, a promise that shows us He will always lead us in truth and only to places of freedom.
Paul continues sharing that we will always be given a way of escape, and that way comes from a life with Jesus. We will constantly find ourselves amid moments where we need an escape plan. This particular part of Scripture is speaking about temptation, hence why I was sharing it with youth group students. When we are faced with these moments, we need to have something or someone we can trust to stir up our hearts to be bold and willing to escape when we are in a place we know isn’t honoring the Lord.
That something and Someone is Jesus.
I shared with the students about the season of my life when this was the Scripture God used to pull me through. Sometimes, it still is the Scripture that pulls me through just in different temptations. I told them how some nights I would lay in my bed with tears streaming down my face, asking the Lord to continue to be bigger than my temptation. I look back at that prayer and I see that the Lord was always bigger than my temptation. What I was really meaning as I prayed that prayer was, “Lord, may my conviction to follow you be bigger and more desirable than the temptations in front of me.”
God was faithful. He was faithful to see me through that season, and He’s been faithful to see me through every season since then. He proved himself to be bigger than the temptations I faced over a decade ago, and He has still proven to be faithful today with temptations that look completely different.
This Scripture has shown me the faithfulness of God from season to season, revealing that His escape plan for us has never changed. We have the blessing of anchoring our life to the One who is our only way out and our only way forward in every circumstance.
Look here a little more closely, with additional context to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:11-13: "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
I hope you see a little more clearly that you can have faith in the Lord to pull you out of the pits when temptation, alerts, and conviction set in. He gave us His clear instruction, grace, and mercy to do so. He has proven faithful from generation to generation; I pray you see that, too.
Let’s pray together:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for providing a way of escape. The gift of your Holy Spirit is so powerful. I pray to never ignore the stirrings of it and the ways it corrects me. I ask that my heart will always be drawn to the way of escape and not settle for the deceptions of sin or temptations that come to distract me from what you’re trying to do in my life. Thank you for always being faithful from generation to generation. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Chelsey is the voice behind the Living with Less Podcast and author of the 52-week devotional More of Him, Less of Me: Living a Christ-centered Life in a Me-centered World. She writes devotions for Lifeway Women's Journey Magazine, Crosswalk.com, and iBelieve.com. She also writes Bible reading plans for the YouVersion Bible App. Chelsey lives in Ohio with her husband and two children. You can connect with her on Instagram @chelseydematteis and at her website ChelseyDeMatteis.com.
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If you've been feeling tired, overwhelmed, depleted, or just quietly wondering where God is in the middle of a very full life — this episode is for you. And honestly? It might be for me too, because I'm recording this in one of those seasons myself.
Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.
Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.
I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
