How to Handle Temptation
We all may encounter temptations in our life time, but how you handle such temptations as they come will impact your life positively or negatively.
Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night, saying, In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” Judges 16:1-2
Gaza, a Philistine capital city near the southern coast, was located along the caravan route from Egypt to Syria. Samson’s excursion into the depths of enemy territory reveals the extremes to which his desires took him.
When facing Samson-like temptations, we should remember God’s promise: “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 a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
This passage teaches that….
- The experience of temptation is common. Every person experiences it. Furthermore, being tempted is not a sin – even Jesus was tempted. Sin comes when we yield to temptation.
- The extent of temptation is controlled. When you are faced with any testing in your life, God promises to limit the kind of test and the intensity of it. He knows our limitations, and He never allows us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.
- The escape route from temptation is provided. Whenever we are tempted, God has the end of that temptation already in sight. The moment the test begins, the escape hatch is already available. He does not wait to see how we are doing; He provides the means of escape at the very outset. Samson’s life bears this out. A look at the temptations to which he continually yielded reveals that he always had the opportunity to walk away. If only he had walked away from the woman of Timnah, from the harlot at Gaza, from Delilah. The way of escape was there, but he refused it.
In the midst of temptation, we believers have a way to victory in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who empowers us to do what we ourselves are not able to do. If you try to withstand temptation by your own flesh, you will be like Samson-going out to face temptation, yet unaware that the power of the Lord has departed from him. But if you stay in faith and in fellowship with your divine Deliverer, Jesus, your personal and spiritual battles will be won.
Consider this:
- How are you dealing with the temptation you are facing now?
- Have you asked the Lord for help to overcome this temptation?
Prayer: Father, You are my God, help me to know your way of escape in this temptation. Give me the courage to flee from it and stand in faith, knowing that you are with me. Amen!
Read: Judges 16:1-22
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