Paul gives three things about this war, this battle where we are the target in 1st Corinthians 10:13
•“No temptation has overtaken you”:The weapons against us are all the same! Satan has not developed new ammunition; it is the same stuff he has been using since Adam and Eve fell. He is not using some new bait to hook us and trap us in the flesh. Isaiah 54:17 reminds us of this powerful truth: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
Paul reminds these same Corinthians in his 2nd letter 2:11 that “we are not ignorant of his devices.” We know what he will use to appeal to our flesh, as John tells us in his letter 2:16, based on “all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world.”
•“Except such as is common to man”:You are not alone! Let me just say that this is one of Satan’s greatest weapons—to tell us that we alone are being attacked and that God is being unfair. We are all going through the same battle; we are prone to the same ammunition. If you are not in a trial yet, you soon will be, and it is for this reason that we might bind ourselves together in unity.
All the more that we ought to do as Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians to “establish you and encourage you concerning your faith.” The author of Hebrews writes in 10:25 that they should not “forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
•“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”: God alone is faithful, even when I am not! Two great truths come out of this:
1 He alone is enough: I don’t need God plus something else; the truth is all I have ever had is the Lord. He alone is the only one who will never leave me or forsake me. He is the only one large enough to handle my problems and caring enough to take all that I can give Him. So I’m back to what every athlete must have to run the race to win: dependence upon the only equipment we need, “the Lord.”
2 I don’t trust me: It is God that will make the way of escape even as he tests my endurance and stamina. Thank God for His discipline and testing as it strips away all human support and trust in ourselves. He is always my only way of escape. He is my ever-present rock to whom I run. This is where the second aspect of what every successful athlete must have comes in: The discipline to realize that you are weak and must depend upon the only source able to keep you in the race to win.