I was reading a poem this morning and it got me to thinking about one of the most troubling aspects of my life. It’s a part of me that I contiually find myself having to contend with, and quite often I lose the battle. And those battles come up from everywhere at anytime, generally when I’m not ready or prepared to deal with them,… my anger!
Paul had a lot to say about dealing with temptation, but I never really got hold of a very key part of what he said until this morning…
1 Cor 10:13 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.
Now I know that you, like me, have stood on this verse many times in the face of temptation. And we have all taken heart in the fact that Paul tells us that temptation is common to man. It started in The Garden and it continues in Our Garden to this very day. But in this verse I had always glossed over one very important fact… but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. Yes, you say, but do you grasp what that really means? I didn’t until I was reading a poem by Benjamin Malacia Franklin this morning; Just A Weaver. Here is the part that got my attention and started me thinking about this verse…
Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver’s skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
Temptation is controlled by God!
Our life is like a tapestry that God is weaving, but we don’t see the front side. All we see is the back side with all its loose threads and knots wrapped up into a messy tangle, which seems utterly senseless to us. What we don’t realize is that all those threads and knots are the result of all the decisions we make here in this life and what those decisions lead to. And temptation is at the center of it all, and how we choose to respond. What we forget is that God using all of those temptations to weave a beautiful tapestry that is our life, and we won’t get to see it until we see Him face-to-face.
That’s what got me to thinking about anger and why I am tempted every day as a result of all the stuff going on in the world around me. Yes, it’s wrong and it’s taking the world around me down the slippery slope. And that is the very thing that God uses to continually remind me that I far too often make the wrong choice… but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
With every temptation there comes that moment, no matter how brief it is, when the choice is mine to make and decide which way to go. There are only two options: give in to the temptation or give in to the Holy Spirit. The result is either a loose thread or a knot. God sets the challengeand our response impacts the front side of the tapestry of our life. Another way of looking at it is to reflect on what James had to say:
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Remember Joseph? He chose to resist the devil and run away, and although it appeared that he was punished for his action, in the end God had the last say… the knots and loose threads became a beautiful tapestry!
We cannot help being tempted, it’s part of God’s weaving process. But we can help yielding to temptation by taking the right road (the Holy Spirit’s way of escape) and simply run away from it. So, I guess I need to view my anger through a different eye with a different outlook and remember who is controlling the process. No wonder we pray… and lead us not into temptation!