God's test and Satan's temptation

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord 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 by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:12-13)

                God tests us.  A good example is the story of Abraham in Genesis 22.  God tested Abraham (Gen. 22:1).  The test was to take his only son Isaac and go to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that God had told him (v. 2).  Why did God test Abraham?  The reason is because God wanted to know whether Abraham feared Him or not (v. 12).  And it is because God not only wanted to greatly bless Abraham who passed the test by faith, but also wanted all the nations of the earth to be blessed through Abraham (vv. 17-18).  The Apostle James says that when we are tested by God, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial (Jam. 1:12).  We must persevere under trial when we are tested by God.  Then God will give us the crown of life that He has promised to those who has been approved (v. 12).

            Satan tempts us.  In other words, Satan tempts us who are being tested by God.  How does Satan tempt us?  Satan makes us think, “I am being tempted by God” (v. 13) when we are tested by God.  In other words, Satan twists our minds.  Just as the rulers of the house of Israel despise justice and twist all that is right (Micah 3:9), so Satan twists our right hearts.  Satan twists the knowledge of God in our hearts.  Although God is a holy God who tests us but does not tempt us (Jam. 1:13), Satan twists the truth so that we who are being tested by God think that God is tempting us.  This Satanic temptation is very frightening and convincing.  In other words, this Satanic temptation is persuasive as well as fatal to our faith when we are being tested and tried by God.  When we are going through extreme trials, Satan twists our minds just as he twists the hearts of the Israelites in the wilderness, making us think that 'God hates us' (Deut. 1:27).  Clearly, God is a God of love and a God who loves us.  But Satan makes us doubt God's love by telling us in our minds how that loving God can give us so much pain and trials (Now Satan is making many Christians doubt God's love by making them think, 'How can a loving God send souls to hell?').  Not only that, but Satan also makes us to believe that God hates us, which is a lie.  What is the result?  Satan not only makes us distrust God, but also makes us complain and grumble against Him in our dissatisfaction, which ultimately leads us to sin against the Holy God.

            We have to keep in mind.  We must remember that God is not a God who tempts us.  He never tempts us.  Satan is tempting us.  Satan twists our knowledge of God.  Satan perverts us to the correct biblical knowledge of God.  Satan makes us distrust the truth about God and makes us believe in lies.  The lie is that God tempts us when we are in trials.  What should we do?  When we are tested by God, we must not fall into the Satan's temptation.  To do this, when we are tested by God, like Abraham, we must obey the God's command by faith.  Obviously, Satan will try to make us doubt and distrust God and thus disobey His word.  We must overcome this temptation of Satan with faith.  Furthermore, like Job in the Bible, when we are tempted by Satan, which is permitted in God's sovereignty, we must not sin like Job and do not blame God foolishly (Job 1:22).  Rather, like Job, we must endure the trials we face with the belief that “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (23:10).  Then, like Job, we will enjoy the blessing of “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You” (42:5).   May this blessing be upon you.