THE WAY OF ESCAPE. (THE EKBASIS.) 1 Corinthians 10:13

God always provides for our needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

As long as we are doing the work of the Lord God will always meet our needs. As long as we are pointing others to God, He will always see that you have plenty.

Do the work of the Lord share what you know from the bible and share your testimony of how you were healed or set free and God …

PSALM FIFTY FIVE

THE WAY OF ESCAPE. (THE EKBASIS)

1 Corinthians 10:13. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a WAY OF ESCAPE, that ye may be able to bear it." Here is the God given way of escape.

God does not test us to break us but to make us. He wants us to come out of the experience stronger than we went into it. This principle is very helpful to us when we consider this psalm

.

David was very upset and he commences the song without revealing what is behind it. In the middle, however, he exclaims, "It was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me that magnified himself against me - then I would have hid myself from him; but it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, mine acquaintance; we counselled together, and walked into God's House in company. It was mine own familiar friend."

THAT was something that rankled.

The two sacred things in which men pretend are Friendship and Religion, and in both these their pretence is devastating. If a person is a pretender in the one, that person will be also suspect in the other.

There cannot be true religion in the heart of a man or woman who is a betrayer of friendships. If you cannot maintain your friendship with humans, you will not keep it with God.

The New Testament states that if we say we love God and
love not our brother, we are liars. How can a man love God whom he has not seen, if he love not his brother whom he has seen? Flatterers are a
particularly dangerous class of people. There are many who flatter their
friends in deceit, and they try to flatter God in their so-called worship.

Temptation and trial are common to man. In effect, David says, "There are some things I can put up with" - my enemy reproaching me - those that hate me
- but when it was the person who came with me to the House of God in company - going to worship together - it was devastating. Such things have happened all through the history of mankind. There have been Judases in every generation.

BUT there is that small word in 1 Corinthians 10 which is very comforting - THE EKBASIS - the way of escape. There is a safety valve in every situation. This Psalm was probably written about the time of Absalom's death.

In the song there is a threefold description of the enemy and a threefold
way of escape. When God puts us to the test, there is alays a safety valve.

It is noteworthy that David uses four names for God in the psalm: El-God; Adonai-Lord; Jehovah-Lord; Elohim-God. It is as though he is reinforcing his faith by calling upon every concept within him of ALMIGHTY GOD. He appeals to God, "Hide not Thyself from me O Lord!" This is rather a wonderful phrase.

The expression he uses was used in the Law. It was forbidden by the Law to willfully withhold aid from one who needed it. If your brother was in need, you had to supply it. If you did not help your blood brother - you were HIDING YOURSELF FROM HIM. Behind the word HIDE which David uses in his appeal to the Almighty is that expression: "Lord! When I am in need, please supply it." Just when you need Him, God reveals Himself.

CONSIDER THE ENEMY AND THE EKBASIS.

THE FRIEND WHO WAS AN ENEMY.

In verse 3 David uses the phrases, "The voice of the enemy" and "The
oppression of the wicked." But it is a friend he is referring to in the
middle of the psalm. How can the voice of a friend be the voice of an enemy?

Any voice of a friend that leads us away from the counsel of God is the voice of an enemy. Remember, Satan himself can come as an angel of light. He can deceive us with ease.

In another place, the Psalmist David: says, "Some trust in princes, some
trust in horses, but I will trust in the Name of the Lord." There is ONE whom you can trust under all circumstances. In verse 5 David says, "Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me and horror hath overwhelmed me." David was by no means 'chicken-hearted.' Think about it! He had faced, bare handed, the lion, the bear, and the giant Goliath. He fought the lion, he faced the bear, for the sake of his sheep, and he faced the giant Philistine on behalf of his nation. But what he could not face was a WICKED FRIEND.
Treachery had cut him to the quick. The voice of the enemy was the voice of his friend.

Most opinions lean to the fact that he probably refers to AHITHOPHEL - "A man like me!" he says, "A teacher who taught me and made me know wisdom." He was the one who gave him advice. A man of whom he thought, "I must be able to trust him!"

The problem is, that when people let us down, we distrust everything they have told us.
Yet some of those things were true.

David had been badly let down by "One who sweetly communicated with me!" It made everything a mockery, he must have felt that he did not want to see the Temple anymore.
He describes this friend-enemy in a threefold way - he says,
"The wicked-the Traitors-and those of our own house who deny God!" We can recognise the wicked. We are able to distinguish the traitors - they leave the faith and cause confusion among the faithful. But what difficulties we have with those of our own house, of our own friends, of our own acquaintances who deny God. Suddenly they are the enemies within. They can so occupy and fill our lives!
that they lead us away from God. There lies the subtilty of it.
What a predicament! There is, however a WAY OUT - an EKBASIS.

David says, "O for the wings of a Dove!" The underlying desire is to fly
away. We all know that feeling. "If only I could get away from it all. I
could remain in the wilderness. However, we can be sure of this, that God has no intention of keeping us in constant isolation. He brings us out and brings us through.
To wander off and remain isolated in the wilderness is no real
answer to the problem.

There is another answer, "As for me, I will call upon God and the Lord
shall save me," David sings in verse 16. How many times must this happen before we can believe it? Again and again we declare, "If this goes on much longer I'll break!" We have all been guilty of saying, "I can't stand it any more!" Every time we say that we have forgotten God's EKBASIS. God has promised that with every trial He will provide a way of escape. If we call
upon God - He will answer. Don't Break! PRAY!
] It is essential to develop this dependence upon God. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee." In the very nature of man's experience, every one of us will carry a burden at one time or another.

There is the classic story of a man trudging down a country lane with a heavy sack on his shoulders. A friend driving a horse drawn cart overtakes him and offers him a lift. "Jump up behind, I'll give you a lift." He jumps in the cart, but after a while the friend hears him grunting and groaning. Looking around he sees the poor man sitting there with the sack still on his shoulders.
If you accept a lift from God, drop your load. "He shall sustain thee".
Always accept God's way of escape - the EKBASIS.

[b]Copyright (c) 1996, Hedley Palmer. All rights reserved.

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