Winning Wisdom: Tempted of God?

Topic: Tempted of God?  [Thursday, 20th July 2017]

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 to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Some folks have, through their interpretation of the above scripture, says God tempts man. But James cautioned us in James 1:13 thus: “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 same James tells in James 1:2-4 that we should count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations, as they are to work patience in us, which eventually makes us perfect. Now, we know that God wants us to be perfect as He is, and we’ve been commanded to be perfect (Matthew 5:48). We may say then that it is logical for to think that God sends these temptations to come our way so we could be made perfect.

If you’ve been thinking this way, you’ve been wrong. What does scripture tell us? We’ve seen James 1:13 which tells us that God tempts no one. James goes on to tell us in verse 14-15 of the same chapter thus: “but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” What the devil does is whisper lies into our hearts, and wait for which lie our lusts will catch on, then capitalise on that. And voila! Temptation.

The devil is called the Father of lies (John 8:44), and when, because of the lusts of our flesh, we believe the lies he whispers, we are drawn into temptation. That is why scripture admonished us in  Galatians 5:17 to “walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”God, knowing that the devil would whisper a lot of lies to us, and by those lies we would fall into divers temptations, devised a means to make the temptations work for our good. He so designed it that these temptations would work perfection in us when we overcome them. He does this through His grace that teaches us (Titus 2:11-12). This is to fulfil scripture in Romans 8:28.God therefore tempts no one, and only works things out for our ultimate good.

Keep winning daily.

Prayer:

Dear Father, thank You for your absolute love, in that in Your all-knowing nature, You see crooked paths ahead of me, and help me get through them for my good. Blessed be You, Lord, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

By Esun Tekeme