Way out

Believers go through the same challenges and circumstances as the rest of the world, but with one distinct advantage, we have God with us and on our side to help us through every trial.

But what if you’re not saved today? What if you’re stuck in the mire of your own making or the test of a lifetime and you don’t yet know who God is or what He has done for you to help you out? How do you find the way out? Let’s look at this today.

Way of escape

Let’s start with the Christian advantage. We know our God. He has said He will never leave us nor forsake us. Therefore, whatever we are going through He is there with us in the battle. Many times in scripture we are told that ’the battle is the Lord’s.’ When we are on the side of righteousness, He is there with us and for us.

He is our ever present help in time of need. He knows the kinds of things we will face in life, and has been through them. He is for us and not against us. He understands, fully, what we are going through.

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:14-16

What a promise this is. We are given the privilege of being able to come boldly to the throne of grace for help in time of need. He knows our needs before we ask, but it is good to lay them before Him anyway. He knows the way out. He knows the escape route.

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 the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Challenges

So, there is no promise that we will be without challenges, only a promise of potential trials, with the encouragement that we will be given a way out. In fact, we have a guarantee that believers will face persecution for their faith at some time or other, and we will still be tempted, tested and tried.

The difference is that we will be provided with an avenue of escape, and there is a limit to how long we will have to endure. We can bear it. We can get through it. He will help us.

The context of the reference is actually more to our dealings with our own flesh than with anything else. It is an admonition to avoid imitating those who have rebelled against God’s will. Sometimes we have to overcome our own desires before we can deal with the enemy’s taunts and wiles. Nevertheless, we are empowered to overcome all things through Christ, including the flesh and the adversary.

But we can and will be victorious if we stand our ground. We can resist the enemy and he will eventually flee from us. It’s faith and hope that will get us through every time.

What if I’m not a Christian yet?

The problems are enhanced for the unsaved, not because the circumstances are any different or stronger, but because the unsaved do not have a covenant–an agreement–with God, yet. Therefore, they do not have the same advantage. Sin has separated them from God.

The good news for the lost, though, is that He is still calling them. God has put out the message that He wants them to come home to Him.

So all is not lost, and, as long as you’re still living and breathing, the door is open into the escape route out of all temptations and trials, beginning with the separation you have from God right now that keeps you from His provision and protection.

He has set everything up to bridge that gap to the lost through the cross of Jesus that welcomes us all home to Him. All you have to do is hear the gospel of Christ and respond to the offer of new life.

Sometimes God rescues people with the aim of persuading them to receive the offer of new life. I’m certain He intervened many times in my life before I finally accepted Him as Lord and Saviour. He was certainly knocking on my door and that of my family.

Facing issues

But being unsaved isn’t the best place to be right now. Whilst Christians face all the same things unbelievers go through, they have been promised a way out of difficult situations and circumstances, the one qualifying exception being martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. There are those who will give their lives for their faith, the way of escape being death itself in that instance.

The Apostle Paul faced this, and was warned by Jesus that he would face many trials and lay down his life for the message. He did not fear death. Jesus overcame death and the grave for those who believe. Paul said that for him to live was Christ, and to die was gain. Death for the believer is merely a threshold into glory. It is a doorway to a better place.

But, for everyday challenges, pressures we face, and stresses that try to overwhelm, God will find a way out for those who trust Him and put their faith in Him. He is the Faithful and True. Whatever we face, He’ll find a way through.

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Psalms 46:1-3

Therefore we will not fear. God is always near to those who put their trust in Him. He makes us overcomers through whole-hearted faith and trust in Him that, as the Good Shepherd, He will lead us through every difficult situation.