James 1:13, 14

James 1:13, 14
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

I think that I am guilty of this, thinking that God is the one tempting me and seeing how I react but truly I know that the devil would be the only one with something to gain by tempting me.  Maybe we place the blame on God because we don't want to believe that there is such evil out there, trying to bring us over to his side often.  Maybe we want to place the blame on God because then we can complain about our God.  Maybe we blame God because it is hard to comprehend how much He truly loves us and we find it hard to believe that He, in no way, would ever want to see us fail.

Whatever the reason, it is important for us to keep in mind that God may test our faith with some of the difficulties we face throughout our lives but that only the devil would tempt us to turn away from Him.  It reminds me of my four year old.  No matter what decision he makes, it is always someone else's fault.  If he chooses to throw a toy across the room, it is because we made him mad.  If he hits someone, it is because that person made him upset enough to hit.  If he gets a time out it is because we gave him one for no reason.

My son is plenty willing to take credit for a job well done however.  If I help him clean his room and then praise him for helping he will say something like, "Well, I just really wanted to have a clean room so I decided to clean it all up."  Children are rather self absorbed, that is just part of childhood but don't we often treat our relationship with God in the same way?  When something bad happens it is His fault, He "let" this happen to us.  He allowed a bad thing into our lives rather than us taking responsibility for giving into the temptation in front of us and inviting this "bad" thing into our lives. 

When we achieve successes in life, are we quick to take the credit, or do we say, "By the grace of God" I was able to achieve this.  Do we give the glory to Him or do we take it for ourselves?  Do we acknowledge that it is God who gives us the gifts, the vision, the drive, etc., to reach our goals?  People were surprised that Matthew McConaughey thanked God in his Oscars acceptance speech but I am truly shocked by anyone who doesn't thank God.  God is the one who makes all things possible.

Now some of you might be saying that there are bad things that happen in our life that are not due to giving in to temptation such as illness, job loss, extreme weather, etc.  Certainly we didn't invite these bad things into our life, they were put there by God, right?  Well, I suppose that is one way to look at it.  I guess I look at it as "life happens" and everything that occurs in our life is meant to help us grow in some way.  When I had three miscarriages in 12 months, I was angry at God, couldn't believe that someone who loves me would allow such misery to creep into my life.  But think about your own children.  Is there ever a time that you know they are about to encounter something unpleasant but you allow them to continue because you know that the only way they will learn and grow as a person is by experiencing it?  Well, I believe that to be true for us as well.  God could shelter us from every bad thing in life but He knows that we would never be able to grow and learn and improve as people.

Because of such a bad time in my life, I found my faith in God.  I have a solid marriage.  I know that there is good that comes from bad.  I know that God never abandons me.  I am again facing some difficulties, the drs. have some concerns with the little boy I am carrying, and all I can do is lean on my faith.  And I have to trust that God is going to heal this little boy or that if He doesn't that there is a purpose, something to be gained and learned, from that too.  The devil wants me to doubt Him.  I can feel him tempting me every day to not have faith, to think the worst, to curl up in my bed and cry.  But I am working very hard on turning more to my faith than I ever have before and by the grace of God, I will achieve success.

Thanks for reading!

Busy Mommy Blogger