Being Tested?

Numbers 17–18; Psalm 55; Isaiah 7; James 1

We discussed hypocrisy last night. It is a sin hated by the Lord and most people yet so often committed. Generally, it means trying to convey that I am a better, more devout person than I am. It is wearing a mask of ‘goodness’ to hide my sinfulness. Examples include those who pretend to be honest and cheat on their income tax, or those who pretend to love and worship God but obedience is lacking or they show up before His throne only on Sunday morning but their heart is on the golf course.

Most of the time, my masks are an attempt to impress people. This is nonsense. Since everyone does it, most everyone recognizes this fake behavior in others. No one is impressed. Sometimes I’ve tried to look better than I am because my self view is incorrect. I think I’m stupid or inadequate and try acting as if the opposite is true.

The other extreme of pretending to be what I am not is acting as if I am not what I really am. I am a child of God, precious to Him and graced with His goodness through faith in Jesus Christ. If I am moaning about my weaknesses, I am also being a hypocrite for I have the power of God living in me through the Holy Spirit. To claim to be nothing but a wimp is hypocritical because it is not true either.

This day, I’m thinking about resisted the temptations to fake who I am or deny who I am. These temptations come in a variety of forms and at various times. I’m tempted to boast when another person is boasting. I’m tempted to feel sorry for myself when others speak of their blessings. I’m tempted to say, “I can handle this” when I know that Jesus says without Him, I can do nothing. How then can this child of God face and defeat temptation?

First, I need to recognize it. Read the Bible.

Second, I need to realize that while Satan tempts me to sin, God also tests me at the same time to trust Him. Seeing what both are trying to do is helpful. Who do I want to obey? I also need to stop blaming either one because the temptation or trial is allowed by God to reveal my weaknesses and help my take charge of my decisions. I cannot be tempted if I am “dead to sin” and “alive to God.”

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. (James 1:12–16)

Ask: what is at the root of this? What desire in me is Satan appealing to? How can I endure this without giving in?

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:19–21)

James says slow down and pay attention. Anger or any other emotional reaction is not going to make me righteous any more than faking it will make me righteous. Whatever the temptation appeals to must be addressed by the Word of God and put away, abandoned. The Bible will tell me what to do instead of reacting in anger or other emotions. Find out what it says, but that is not enough.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22–25)

Knowing the answer is not enough; I must do it. If I’m tempted and react in anger, but the Word of God tells me to speak softly, then I must speak softly. Tooting my horn about speaking softly doesn’t do it. Mere talk about what I know does not do it. I must sincerely and obediently do what God tells me.

APPLY: This entire page is application. I know the answers from God’s Word — now follow through and do what He says. The temptation will then become a test — and in Christ, I will pass the test.

What does God want for His people?

Not every preacher uses the Bible as the source of his or her messages. Not every ‘Christian doctrine’ is based on what God’s Word says. All sorts of false teaching happens ‘in the name of Christ’ and is bought up by thousands because it appeals to sinful human nature.

For instance, ‘name it and claim it’ says we only need to tell God to give us what any/every verse promises. This means if I have ‘enough faith’ I never need to be sick, poor or suffering. While God does bless and heal, His ways are not our ways . . .

Christians suffer. God says we will and we do, not because we have sin in our lives even though the consequences for foolish choices can be a reason for anguish. Sometimes we suffer because people do not like our message and take pot shots. Sometimes we suffer because we live in a sin-sick world.

God could remove all pain and sorrow — isn’t that what heaven is all about? Instead, He might instead use it for our good, showing the glory of His power. Who else but God can turn tragedy into something good?

These thoughts come from this passage in Romans:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1–5, emphasis mine)

The first thought, justified by faith, has ran through my devotions for a few weeks. The second thought, peace with God, is just as incredible. Look at Hubble pictures. Look at the details in a forest, in the ocean. Look at a new-born baby. Think of the God who has spoken all things into existence. Think of His power and immensity. He knows how many hairs are on my head, on everyone’s head. He knows our thoughts. He knows what we will say before we say it. At His word, the seas roar and mountains split in two. It is this God who gives peace with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I cannot wrap my head around it, but I can and do know that peace. It is greater than any gift, than wealth, health or comfort. It overcomes suffering — I can be in great pain and still calm inside because of this incredible peace. The world can be (and is) falling apart all around me, but because of God, I can rejoice in the hope of His glory, the manifestation of His power to eventually make sense of the mess and use it for His purposes.

The passage says I can rejoice in my sufferings. Why? Because God shows how that peace and joy produce an ability to endure all that the false teachers want to erase and replace. They offer rejoicing in the stuff of heaven without realizing that this rejoicing amid pain is in many ways a greater glory.

My friend just had cancer surgery. My hubby is constantly having malignant patches removed from his body. Another friend has been diagnosed with something only smokers get but she has never had a puff on a cigarette. Our circle suffers. The local and national news is filled with suffering. Where is the rejoicing? It is in the heart of those who have Jesus in their heart!

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Jesus, I asked You to give me words that I needed to hear today. I expected scolding for bad thoughts, or for a recent failure (already confessed) and You give me this, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” What grace and love from the God who gives peace, as You say, not as the world gives, but a peace that is deeper than my understanding and beyond all expectations.

Today’s thankful list . . .

Great peace with God, and the peace of God.

Walking in the sunshine.

Homemade buns.

Freedom to take a long nap when I’m tired.

Joy that overrides sorrow.

My hubby who makes that king bed with the impossibly heavy mattress.

When I want to beat my head against a wall . . .

“. . . You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5)

Sheep can be so irritated by buzzing flies that they beat their heads against trees or rocks trying to find relief. When alert shepherds see this happening, they bathe the sheep’s head with olive oil. The results are dramatic as the sheep becomes instantly calm.

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. (Ezekiel 34:15–16)

Because of God’s almighty power, He can thwart the flies before they even get to the sheep. Before Pharaoh finally decided to let God’s people leave their bondage in Egypt, God sent several plagues to convince him he should do it. One of those plagues was swarms of flies. The Lord said, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.” (Exodus 8:20–24) The flies came, but they did not bother the people of God, only the Egyptians.

The psalmist may have thought of this when he wrote about God’s help against his enemies. He said, “They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!” (Psalm 118:12)

An endless bombardment of difficulties can make me feel like I’m in a swarm of annoying flies. We all know what it feels like to want to beat our heads against the wall in frustration. Yet our Shepherd is watching over us. He wants to bathe us in the soothing oil of the Holy Spirit.

One example is the man with an unclean spirit who lived in the tombs of Gerasenes. He was so wild that he could not be restrained and in his torment, he cut himself with stones. When Jesus came to him and demanded that the unclean spirit leave him, he cried, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

In this encounter, it became clear that the man was not being bothered by one unclean spirit but an entire legion of them. Jesus sent them into a herd of pigs which they then destroyed, but as for the man, he was transformed. As people came to see what had happened, they found him “sitting there, clothed and in his right mind.” He wanted to stay with Jesus, but the Lord told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

He did what he was told and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. (Mark 5:1–20)

God can remove the flies, or He can nullify their power to pester. He can bring peace to a tormented soul in the midst of the torment, or He can remove the torment. Either way, the Good Shepherd knows how to calm a troubled sheep and bring peace to a tortured soul.