The Heat of Temptation

" So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  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 Cor. 10:12-13

Certainly we have all been tempted. Temptation comes from the enemy. Once I heard a person say that God was tempting them, and there seems to be no biblical base to say that God tempts, but he "allows" temptation to come you way to see how you stand up to it. What God will use challenges in our lives to see how we respond and how obedient we are to His Word. The enemy is the one that tempts us to fall. Oh yes, we have that carrot dangled in front of us, the Holy Spirt is telling us “don’t go there”. The enemy is on the the other side saying, "go ahead, no one will know" or other justifications to fall into sin. There is that moment in time where we are to make that choice. Which way do we go. Do we give in to the flesh, the desire, the want...or do we use the fruit of the spirit (self control) to be able to withstand the temptation? It is our choice. Do we feed our fleshly desires or do we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and follow His Way, the Truth and the Life? What I like about these two verses, is that God tells us that He will “provide a way out” so we can ENDURE. Notice that it does not say that God will remove it...but we are to ENDURE IT. I heard a wonderful example of this. God never gives us anything that is too hard for what we can “bear”. It is like an iron. On the iron you have many settings. Each setting is selected for the specific material type. So when you have linen, you put the iron setting on linen. If you have a synthetic setting, you put the iron on that setting. Why? Because if you use a higher setting than the material requires, it will burn. Well, that is like the temptation and challenges that come our way. God will only press into us, like the iron, just the proper setting. We will receive the heat at the right setting. Hot? Yes, but it will NOT burn! God knows just how much we can endure, but endure we must. So this scripture is so true when you look at the iron example. We will NOT be given more than what we can bear. Isn’t that reassuring? God knows our settings and He will only use what we need to straighten out the fabric in our lives!
Question: Have you found yourself in an area of temptation and had to go through the process of ironing to get out the wrinkles of your life?