As my mind wonders
amid my thoughts, governance resonates with this awareness; I have often heard
it said that because God is righteous He cannot be evil, which is obviously
true. “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am
being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself
tempts no one.” (James 1:13) –
If that be true, which it obviously is, why then are we taught by the Lord
Jesus to pray, “Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil (the evil
one).” – Who does the leading, Satan or God the Father?
Some of you may
remember the account of Job; if not, here it is; “Now
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan,
"From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said,
"From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on
it. And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my
servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright
man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"” (Job 1:6-8) as this account further unfolds, although
instrumentally it is Satan who brings evil upon Job, we can very clearly see
that it is God who allows the calamity (evil) to fall on Job, “Have you considered my servant Job?” - A
test is there to prove our authenticity. It’s the suffering in the test, which
teaches us to shed the skins of sin or the flipside of that drives us to apply
the grace principle, excusing our sin as the norm.
While the Apostle
James teaches us that when we fall into sin, our own wicked heart, and our
sinful nature’s drives us to eat from the forbidden tree, which God hates. God
hates sin! In fact he detests it so much that whilst the Lord Jesus took upon
the sin of mankind, whilst he was punished for it upon that cruel Roman cross.
God the Father shunned his Son and turned his back upon him, thus causing the
Lord Jesus to cry out, “my God, my God why have you forsaken me?” No doubt rhetorical, but just in case it has not fully dawned on
some of you; evidence proving the hatred God has for sin. He judged his Son on
the cross for our sin, even though he had no sin of his own, once the penny
drops and we get just a glimpse of what it meant for Jesus to die on Calvary,
understanding that HE died for me, we will never be the same again.
Sadly it’s our own
lusts that lead us astray. It is one thing to have a thought but another when
it becomes an intention. There is without doubt an aspect of God’s sovereign
will which allows us to be tested in certain areas of our lives. If this was
not true why would the Lord Jesus teach us to pray in this manner; “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13) - Why? So that we may see where our
treasure lies! For the Christian who loves God would be quick to confess their
breach, the apostle John teaches us this truth, Nevertheless our aim is to
please our God; “By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” (1John 5:2)
The Apostle Paul on
the other hand is quick to help us understand the severity the Christian faces
on a daily basis, the coalface of our walks, looks like this; “For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
With all this to
consider where does that leave us? There is a testing that God require from
every believer, sanctification must be tried and tested on a daily basis, we
must get to a stage in our lives whereby we begin to have victory over the
areas we once where enslaved to. That does not mean we should cavalier into
areas that could easily trip us up, but rather pray, “Father
lead us not into temptation”, however when we are
tempted we have an obligation to seek out God’s grace to overcome the trial and
in so doing we will come out on the other side more refined. This is the walk
we have been called too! Has God every said to Satan have you considered my
servant Tyrone? I somewhat doubt it, nevertheless I have an obligation by his
grace to shoot for the mark. It is our duty as Christians to live a life that
brings honour to God. The Lord Jesus has left us with a perfect example to
follow.
Let us be quick to
seek His face, find grace in time of need, instead of habitually buckling to
the temptation. May God help us all; remembering that it is not by strength or might
that we will overcome the evil one, but rather by the finished work of Calvary!
We must call on Jesus to find the grace to overcome, Do not believe the lie
that I may continue in my sin so that grace may abound. We must learn to
overcome…
In conclusion, it is
God who allows us to be led into the temptation, Satan opens the door to our
lusts and we either buckle to it or we find grace to overcome. It’s as simple
as that. When we fall we are covered by Christ, when we overcome our Father is
glorified. For many of us it’s time to put off the childish things.
Signing off
Tyrone
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