How do we respond when we face trials and testing? This is particularly important when testing involves suffering. We may at times be tempted to give up on seeking to do what is good and right. This was certainly a temptation that the Psalmists faced when they looked around and saw the wicked prospering. We may at times be tempted to blame God, to see him as the cause of our suffering and to excuse ourselves when we fall by saying that it is his fault. James cautions against such options
A Look at the Text (Read James 1:12-18)
Christians are to perseverance in the face of trial because this will lead to blessing and a crown. Note the link back to verse 2, trials are a joy, trials are a blessing(v12).[1] They are also to careful when identifying the cause of their trials. They are not to blame God for their temptation.[2] The cause of temptation is their own sinful desires. Note that sometimes we attribute temptation to the devil and this is true in some cases but James puts the emphasis on our own responsibility (v13-15).[3] Rather, they are to recognise that God is good and therefore that he is the one who gives good gifts and only good gifts (v16-18).
Digging Deeper
James is explicitly clear that God does not tempt us, therefore, we should properly attribute temptation to Satan and to our own sinful desires. However, Scripture does at times talk about God testing us. The two most obvious examples are when Abraham is tested in Genesis 22 and when Job announces that the Lord both gives and takes away.[4] What are we to make of this?
The point James is making concerns God’s character, that he is good and therefore the source of all goodness. This helps us to understand his intent and purpose. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph will therefore recognise that the same outcome can have two originators but with very different motives, people intend harm, as does Satan but God intends good. Paul makes it explicitly clear that not only does God intend good but that this is what he achieves when he insists that “all things work together for the good of those who love him.”[5]
In this specific instance, James’ point is that the reason why something becomes a test and indeed temptation is not to do with external causes. It’s not that God is seeking to trip us up. Indeed, it is not even about blaming Satan. Rather, “what makes a given situation a test is not that God has put one there … but that the person is willing to disobey him.”[6] Or, to put it another way:
“What can change a trial into a temptation is the attitude with which we meet it and we fail the trial when turn to blaming God.”[7]
A look at ourselves
I remember a preacher once declaring to the congregation that he had been offered an old second hand car from some well-intentioned Christians. He had turned it down because, as he put it “his heavenly father was a good father who would only give him the best.” Now, I don’t know what state the car was in, perhaps it was a rust bucket. We certainly shouldn’t be giving away things that are useless to us making them someone else’s problem. However, if the preacher was relying on James 1 for his stance, he had misunderstood James’ point. This is not a form of prosperity gospel teaching here. James is clear that trials and testing will come our way. In fact, he is clear that these will work for good so we can rejoice in them. His point is that even our challenges and trials become good blessings in the hands of the living God. We are not to resent God and blame him, seeing him as seeking our harm but to trust him in trials to bring good through them and from them.
[1] C.f. Blomberg & Kammel, James, 69.
[2] “Possibly people in James’ congregations are blaming God for their trials, making up an excuse for their own failures.” Blomberg & Kammel, James, 70.
[3] Davids, The Epistle of James, 79.
[4] Job 1:21.
[5] Romans 8:28.
[6] Davids, The Epistle of James, 81.
[7] Blomberg & Kammel, James, 70.
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