Tailor-Made

Have you ever noticed just how perfectly-timed temptation can be? For instance, on the days when I bring the healthiest, most nutrition-packed lunch, there is inevitably a student with a birthday who offers me a Costco-sized slice of pizza and a cupcake with extra frosting.

I had one such day this week, and was thinking how hard it can be to stick to my lunchtime good intentions. As I mulled it over, I remembered that in a very real sense, temptations are in fact tailor-made. James 1:13-14 tells us,

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

It is our own lusts that draw us away into temptation. And because Satan is well-versed in human weaknesses, he knows exactly how to put those things in our way at just the moment we will be the most likely to yield. It’s not an encouraging thought, is it? But what is encouraging is the corresponding truth from 2 Corinthians 10:13:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Our temptations may be tailor-made, but so is our way to victory! Our passage from James clearly states that God never makes temptation, but the Bible is also clear that God does allow us to face temptation. But as with Job, He puts careful limits on our trials and temptations, so that we will not be forced to sin. He has good and acceptable, and perfect plans for every detail of our lives, and is sovereignly overseeing everything that comes our way. It’s up to us whether we will take the way of escape—or eat a second cupcake.

The fact that temptations hit us when they are most difficult to fight against isn’t an accident. We do have a very real enemy, who wants us defeated, discouraged, and feeling far from God. It is important in those moments when the temptation seems irresistible that we remember our way of escape—one tailored to this specific moment of temptation.

The way of escape may be different in every situation you face, but it will be there nonetheless. Sometimes God may give a way around the temptation, sometimes He may simply offer the grace to say no, His own power to help us obey. But whatever the escape may be, be assured it is there, and God Himself wants you to find and use it!

So, dear Reader, what temptations are you facing today? Whatever temptation arises, it will be tailor-made to trip you up. But remember the way of escape, and run to God with your temptation. Only then will you be able to walk away from the battle victorious, strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” (Ephesians 3:16)

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” James 1:2-3