January 12 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 12—James 1:13–16

¹³ 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. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. ¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Devotional:

Whether they consist in pain or pleasure, wealth or poverty (vv. 9–10), our "trials of various kinds" (v. 2) make us vulnerable to temptation. In this way, God tests us, just as he tested the father of the faithful, Abraham (Gen. 22). But never with evil intent! "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God.'" Why? Because God is supremely holy and therefore "God cannot be tempted with evil." He cannot want evil. Therefore "he himself tempts no one." And yet, is it not the case that we're especially tempted to doubt God in times of trial? We fret and worry, "Is God really in control of my situation? Is he really paying attention to me? Does he really care about me? Is he really wise enough to pursue the best course for me? Is he actually trying to manipulate me into sin?"

All of these doubts are sin, of which we need to repent, and which we need to confess. But perhaps the worst of them all is our deep-seated inclination to try to shift the blame to God. Sometimes we do so directly, but most often we do so indirectly. My sin must be the fault of my surroundings—whether it's the family I had to grow up in, or the one I have to live in now, or the community I have to live in, or the society I have to live in, etc. Or maybe it's the fault of other people—whether it's my parents, or my spouse, or my siblings, or the kids I'm stuck with, or the other people in the church that I'm stuck with, or the neighbors that I'm stuck with. Maybe I inherited propensities—whether to overeating, or to illicit sex, or to substance abuse, etc. But in all these things, there's a subtle shifting of the onus from ourselves ultimately to the one who we know "works all things after the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11). When God caught him in the first sin, the first Adam said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate" (Gen. 3:12). It's not my fault, God, it's my wife's fault. Come to think of it, God, since you stuck me with my wife, it's your fault!" Ever since, Adam's sons and daughters have found such blame-shifting to be as natural as breathing. But the Word of Truth says, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers" (v. 16).

Put to death every sinful penchant to shift the blame to God. Keep reminding yourself what the true and living God is really like, that he is "infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth" (Shorter Catechism #4).

Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.