Is Temptation My Fault or God’s?

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed (James 1:13-14)

I have always had difficulty reconciling this verse with my understanding of the power and wisdom of God in the world. Of course, God is God, and He cannot sin neither is He drawn to sin, but it sure does seem at times that He puts us in places where we are truly tempted to sin. The key to understanding these verses is found earlier in James 1:2-3.

Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.

While it seems that the first verses in James 1 are talking about trials, and the later verses are speak of temptations to sin, the same word is used in both places. It is better to think of all these situations as tests. Tests from without, in the circumstances of life, and tests in areas where we might find it easy to sin. In each situation, there is the possibility that we might not pass the test. So, how is God not tempting us to do evil if He puts us in a place where we might sin? It might help to think of it this way.

God’s intent is for us to succeed.

The purpose of testing is not to find the point of failure, but to teach and to help us grow. Passing the test builds endurance and moves us toward maturity (James 1:3-4). God’s testing is much like the testing we face in academic settings.

My wife teaches high school biology. She is an excellent teacher, but imagine for a moment that she is the perfect teacher. She spends the entire semester giving sharp-minded students everything they need to succeed in the class. They have the ability, information, and if they have questions they can ask and get every answer they need. Show knows the needs of each student and has prepared for all of those needs perfectly. She does everything perfectly they can so that students learn and pass. If the students fail, it is because they, either through stubbornness or laziness, did not make use of the resources available to them. If they fail it is their own fault. No teacher WANTS their students fail.

So it is with God. He has given everything that we need to succeed in the testing that we face. The purposes of His tests are our good and His glory. We have the power of the Spirit enabling us to make the choices God wants us to make. If we lack wisdom in the face of the test we can ask God and He promises to give it to us (James 1:5). In every test we face, there is a “way of escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Sometimes we face lifelong tests. In those situations, God gives the grace for continual endurance and His strength is sufficient in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). If the purpose is our success, and we have been given everything to succeed, then failure is our own fault and the result of our own sinful choices.

We must never blame our failure on God’s good gifts.

It is easy to blame our sin on the fact that “this is the way that God made me.” This is also error. Everything that God has given us is good, everything good that we have is given us by God (James 1:17). Even our physical appetites and feelings (hunger, thirst, sexual desire, pleasure, pain etc.) are the gifts of God given to us for our good. These feelings and desires are necessary for the survival of the human race. If we did not have even one of them we would have died out as a people long ago. However, God did not intend for these desires to rule us. He intends for us to respond to these appetites and feelings in an appropriate way. Just because I feel hunger pangs does not mean that God wants me to eat just anything and do it now. We must let the appetites reveal our needs but makes sure that our response to these needs is in the way that God intends.

Testing is rarely easy.

Success in the tests God allows is always available, but that does not guarantee it is going to be easy. Joseph’s testing at the hands of his brothers, or in Potiphar’s house was far from easy. Paul’s ministry was not a cakewalk either (2 Timothy 3:10-14). Just because testing is hard, painful, or difficult does not mean that there is something wrong with us. We should not expect testing to be easy any more than the student should expect exams to be easy. In fact, the most difficult tests often teach us the most, and in the end take us closer to the Christ-likeness that every believer should be seeking.

This side of heaven, testing is always coming. With the resources available to you as a believer, you can handle this.