God Does Not Test Us

12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. ¹³No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; ¹⁵then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved.

17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.(James 1)

In this passage James and I do agree.

¹³No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.

I would also add:  God does not test us. 

A common way of thinking among Christians — maybe other religions as well — is that God punish us for something we have thought, or done, or said.  

What comes to my mind this morning is what, my then, husband said to me when we were facing divorce.  He said:

“I think God is punishing me for leaving you and girls.”

Now that was when I had a few years of Seminary under my belt; and my theology had become much more  gracious.  

I said to him:  “The God I believe in wouldn’t do that.”  Then quickly added:  “But I would.”

We humans have an innate need to put God into our well defined boxes.  

We forget to remember that God cannot be limited by our minds.  Our boxes are much too small for God’s mind to fit into.

It remind me of the words of a favorite hymn:

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;

There’s a kindness in His justice,

Which is more than liberty….

There is grace enough for thousands

Of new worlds as great as this;…

For the love of God is broader

Than the measure of our mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind…

If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;…

But we make His love too narrow

By false limits of our own;

And we magnify His strictness

With a zeal He will not own.”…

Isaiah said it this way:

⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 

⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

   so are my ways higher than your ways

   and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is. 55)

The God who came to earth, in the skin of Jesus, came to tell us about his true character -- nature.  He came to help us to understand the fallacies, about him,  that had been developed over the years. 

The God I believe in would not punish, tempt or test us. 

Why would he?

Thats all I am going say about that.