Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - TEMPTED

 TEMPTED

Have you ever felt tempted? Of course you have. Everyone has been and is tempted all the time and in myriad ways: TV, magazines, advertisements, friends, etc. We are bombarded with temptations all day long. The problem, however, is not that we get tempted but how we respond to those enticements. 

The problem is not a new one. The Bible is full of people who were tempted during their time on earth, their response to those temptations, and the consequences of that response. It’s amazing how long those consequences can last.

In Genesis Chapter 3, we read that Eve was tempted by Satan and that she and Adam yielded to that temptation. Subsequently, we all have been engulfed in the conflict of good vs. evil ever since.

And Noah, in Genesis Chapter 9, yielded to the temptation of the vine, and subsequently accused his son Ham of seeing his nakedness and cursed him for it. Ham was the father of Canaan and the Canaanites who became thorns to the nation of Israel for generations.

Also Lot, yielded to his daughters and became drunk so that both daughters had relations with him. Those relationships produced children who, in turn, became the fathers of the Ammonites and the Moabites - future enemies of Israel.

Abraham as well did not fully believe God when he was promised a son and fell into temptation by Sarah’s suggestion that he have a relationship with Hagar, thus taking matters into his own hands. As a result, Ishmael was born and God said that he “shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation”(Genesis 17:20).  But, 

“He shall be a wild man;

His hand shall be against every man,

And every man’s hand against him.”

(Genesis 16:12)

And these problems are still with us today.

David was tempted by Bathsheba and yielded to that temptation which resulted in many sons.  Their first son died, but the other ones caused many problems in David’s life.

Soloman, to whom God gave both wealth and wisdom, yielded in his later life to the temptation of pagan women and as a result his kingdom later split.

There are many other examples of problems that developed when one gave into temptation, but also instances of what occurred when temptation was resisted. Perhaps the best known is the time when Joseph resisted the enticement of Potiphar’s wife and, even though he initially went to prison, ended up being second in command of all of Egypt.

Even Christ was tempted by Satan (Matthew Chapter 4) and other temptations but He resisted. Because of this it can be said in Hebrews that: “…we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin,” (Hebrews 4:15). It’s the yielding to temptation which causes the problem, not the temptation itself.

See, God is not the one who initiates temptation but the one who give us the strength to resist yielding if we allow Him. James 1:12-13 says:

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation;

for when 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 tempted by God’;

for God cannot be tempted by evil, 

nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

Temptation does not originate with God but is almost if not always associated with sin, and we are tempted almost constantly in one way or another. This is why we are told to: “give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5). But also in the same book we are told that: “…God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape…” (10:13).

Temptation may run the gamut from something almost inconsequential to very troublesome such as drugs, alcohol or criminal activity. In all of these, the above still remains true and it should always give us something to think about.