God has got you

Children near a fire or a cliff face is a dangerous and an irresponsible picture. What parent would do that? And yet it is also irresponsible for children not to see the beauty and the dangers of such things. So the parent holds tightly the hand of the child or even carries them as they look into the fire or walk along the cliff.

Paul is likening the Corinthian church with the stories of Israel in the Wilderness years.

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10 v 11-13)

We have been reading the warnings of Paul to the Church. It isn’t easy reading. It can cause us to panic and it should. What Paul says in v12 highlights the fearful reality of what can happen when we decide to embrace idolatry. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

We have all seen the devastation of divine judgment on a person. We have heard the tears of brokenness as they realise that idolatry has deceived them. Their lives are like scattered bodies strewn on the Wilderness floor. They went in but never came out and they died there short of their true complete destiny. It is a terrible thing.

And so we panic don’t we? And perhaps this is a good thing and maybe what Paul intended. But wait. There’s no need to live in a state of anxiety. For “God is faithful” to you, v13. “He will not let you …” and “…. He will also provide …”

He is here. Another day. Being faithful to you. Alongside you and holding you up.

Where would you have been if this was not the case?!