by Tim Walker
If you’ve watched a lot of movies, or even the evening news, you know this truth . . . escapes are hard.
People don’t just walk out free and clear.
Well, that is unless you are the apostle Paul and Silas experiencing a divine jail break (Acts 16).
But that’s not the norm.
In the movies or even in real life, there is great tension with each escape.
There’s the captive mom and her son in a room, carefully plotting out their escape step by step, because any misstep could result in being forgotten forever in their prison.
Or the lone survivor on a deserted island for years, putting together a plan to float away on a pieced together raft, where he will experience heartache and near death on the way.
Or the police officer who saves the hostages in the building by defusing the bomb with seconds remaining.
Or the families piled into a boat to escape war, but seeing fellow travelers drown in the turbulent wars.
Escape isn’t easy.
Most of the time there’s a lot of fear.
Are we going to make it out?
Will anyone be harmed in the process?
What obstacles will we face—a raging river, a wall of fire, a dragon?
What will take to escape?
My own smarts? Luck? Risk?
My willingness to do whatever it takes to get out of there?
So with that knowledge about escapes, I don’t know why I so casually read this passage of scripture for so many years.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, the apostle Paul tells the church in Corinth that there’s a way out of any temptation they will face. he says:
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (NLT).
God is faithful.
He will provide a way out of any temptation.
But here’s what it doesn’t say—the way out will always be easy.
Sometimes it will cost you something.
On order to escape being trapped, it cost one rock climber his own arm.
It may cost you something as drastic.
It may cost you pride.
A relationship.
Death to a very strong desire.
God will provide a way out, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a simple exit.
You may feel like you are dragging something along with you.
You may feel like all hell has broken loose and is wailing against you as you struggle to move forward.
But there is always a way out.
Always.
It’s a promise.
God will show it to you.
You have to be brave enough to go for it.
Do it.
Because the cost of staying will be greater than the cost of leaving.
Maybe not now. but at some point.
“He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
But not just endure. Live.
These are the real heroic moments for most of us. They don’t involve epic scenes.
They involve great skirmishes.
It’s about taking the way out no matter what.
Make the escape from that prison. That cell. That deserted island.
You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
