God’s purpose in a trial is maturity

DIGGING DEEP NO. 950 – August 29th, 2022 HOW TO HANDLE TEMPTATION (PART 2) Jam.1: 13- 18.

2. Consider God’s goodness – Jam.1: 17. One of the enemy’s tricks is to convince us that our Father is holding out on us, that He does not really love us and care for us. The goodness of God is a great barrier against yielding to temptation. Since God is good, we do not need any other person (including Satan) to meet our needs. It is better to be hungry in the will of God than full outside the will of God. Once we start to doubt God’s goodness, we will be attracted to Satan’s offers, and natural desires within will reach out for his baits.

James presented four facts about the goodness of God.

God gives only good gifts. Everything good in this world comes from God. If it did not come from God, it is not good. If it comes from God, it must be good, even if we do not see the goodness in it immediately. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was given to him by God and it seemed to be a strange gift; yet it became a tremendous blessing to him 2Cor.12: 1- 10.

The way God gives is good. It is possible for someone to give us a gift in a manner that is less than loving. The value of a gift can be diminished by the way it is given to us. But when God gives us a blessing, He does it in a loving, gracious manner. What He gives and how He gives are both good.

He gives constantly. “Comes down” is a present participle. It keeps on coming down. God does not give occasionally; He gives constantly.

God does not change. There are no shadows with the Father of lights. It is impossible for God to change. He cannot change for the worse because He is holy; He cannot change for the better because He is already perfect. The light of the sun varies as the earth changes, but the sun itself is still shining. If shadows come between us and the Father, He did not cause them. He is the unchanging God. This means that we should never question His love or doubt His goodness when difficulties come or temptations appear. If king David had remembered the goodness of the Lord, he would not have taken Bathsheba and committed those terrible sins 2Sam.12; 7- 8. God had been good to David, yet David forgot God’s goodness and took the bait. It was this positive attitude that helped to keep Joseph from sinning when he was tempted by his master’s wife Gen.39: 7- 9. Joseph knew that all these blessings had come from God. It was the goodness of God, through the hands of his employer, that restrained him in the hour of temptation. God’s gifts are always better than Satan’s bargains. Satan never gives any gifts, because you end up paying for them dearly Prov.10: 22. Achan forgot the warning of God, and the goodness of God, saw the forbidden wealth, coveted it, and took it. He became rich, but the sorrow that followed turned his riches into poverty. The next time you are tempted, meditate on the goodness of God in your life. If you think you need something, wait on the Lord to provide it. Never toy with the devil’s bait. One purpose of temptation is to teach us patience. David was tempted twice to kill king Saul and hasten his own coronation, but he resisted the temptation and waited for God’s time.

3. Consider God’s divine nature within – Jam.1: 18. First; God says look ahead and beware of judgment. Secondly; God says look around and see how good I have been to you. And now, God says look within and realize that you have been born from above and possess the divine nature. We share God’s nature. For this reason, it is beneath our dignity to accept Satan’s bait. A higher birth must mean a higher life. By granting us new birth, God declares that He cannot accept the old birth. Throughout the Bible, God rejects the firstborn and accepts the secondborn. He accepted Abel, not Cain; Isaac not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau. He rejects your first birth, and He announces that you need a second birth. It is this experience of the new birth that helps us overcome temptation. If we let the old nature from the first birth take over, we will fail. We received our old nature from Adam, and he was a failure. But if we yield to the new nature, we will succeed, for that new nature comes from Jesus Christ, and He is the Victor. This new nature must be fed the Word of God daily, so that it might be strong to fight the battle.

In Conclusion – No matter what excuses we make, we have no one to blame for sin but ourselves. Our own desires lead us into temptation and sin. God is not to blame. If we heed the warnings of God, we will win a crown Jam.1: 12. If we disregard the warnings of God, we will find death Jam.1: 15. WHICH WILL IT BE?