Testing & Tempting...

Last week in Crash we looked at the temptation of Christ, and noticed what He did to resist temptation- He quoted scripture. He focused on His Father, His plan and His ways. We learned that we can do the same. When we focus on God, He helps us, and empowers us. One of the verses I used to encourage the youth to not give into temptation was 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." Today's question must have been sparked by this verse. The question is this, "Does God tempt us? Or is it always Satan?"

Let's look at what the Bible says. James 1:13 says, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone..." James clearly states, God does not tempts us. In fact, James goes on in verse 14, "...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." God may lead you into a situation where you have to make a choice, but He never tempts, He never tries to sway us away from Him.

1 Corinthians 10:13 is an encouragement to believers, that God will be with us, that He will help us. When it says, "...He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear..." it's not saying that God tempts us. In the original language, the word for 'tempted' here, can also be interpreted as 'test'. I believe God tests us, but he doesn't tempt us. God provides the choice and leaves it in our hands. Think about Adam and Eve and the tree. God put the tree there, and told them not to eat of it. He prepared them by giving a way out- His command, but ultimately left it up to them. The serpent was the one who swayed Eve. God will give you everything you need to resist temptation, He's not going to test you on something you shouldn't be able to handle.

So to answer the question, "Does God tempt us? Or is it always Satan?" I would say that God never tempt us, but rather He tests us, to see how faithful we will be. Satan is always the one to tempt us, to sway us to choose one way, which always leads away from God. So trust and be faithful to God and focus on Him only. Trust that He is faithful, He has prepared you, He will be with you and that He wants the best for you, which is never tempting you to evil.