The Tests of God (1) James 1:2-5,12-18

Tribulation, testing, produces patience.  The Greek term peirazo we have always found to be one of the most important words in the Bible.  It is used both of the trials of life and of the temptations of Satan our adversary.  In three blogs we want to talk about this, and you will see that God indeed tests His people.  We say this knowing that we have the passage in James 1:12-18 which says: Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  So we must first set to rest the thought of any conflict in the Scriptures.

First, the meaning of peirazo is important.  It speaks of a situation that is not necessarily good or bad.  The test itself is merely an experience which becomes good or bad according to how we handle it.  Thus we know that Jesus Himself was tempted (tested, tried, proven; any of those words are accurate translations) in the desert (Matt. 4:1ff).  The devil brought upon Him, as he does upon us, a strong deception trying to get Him (and us) to fail the test, to sin.  The strong deception is the test; Jesus proved Himself true.

Second, when you read the James passage, it is clear that the test is an attempt to cause someone to do evil.  That is what it says!  In v13: God cannot be tempted by evil.  When the next phrase simply says nor does He Himself tempt anyone we maintain the context and understand it is saying He does not tempt anyone to evil.  In v14-16 we see as well that evil is the issue in the progression (regression) that is described: it is temptation mixed with selfish desires by which we are enticed which results in sin which always leads to death.  On the contrary what comes from God is described as every good gift and every perfect gift (v17).  God is all about making us into His own holy people (v18).  Thus our various trials (v2) are a cause for joy because they produce something that cannot be produces without these trials (v3-4).  And our good God even invites us to ask Him for the wisdom we need to navigate these times (v5).

Some may yet have a problem with the idea of a God who tests, who makes perfect use of suffering for our own good.  They may think this is a bit heavy-handed for God to do this.  To you who may have a thought like this there is only one thing we can do and that is to remind you that there is an eternal difference between God and mankind.  One is the Creator; the other is the creation.  That alone is sufficient reason to understand why God tests us for good while the Scriptures are clear that you shall not tempt the Lord your God (Deut. 6:16).  We say this is clear because Jesus quoted this verse at Satan (Luke 4:12) when Satan tried to get Jesus to take a shortcut through His affliction.  

 God is God!  By ownership He has a right to the devotion of our heart and soul.  The tests of life presented by God will always bring us to this conclusion: God is always right(eous) and always good!