Teach or Destroy

by Roger Talbert

James 1:12-17 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. 13 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. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16  Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

One of the biggest lies which I believe came from Satan that is unintentionally passed on by well meaning Christians is that God allows things to happen in order to see what we are going to do. Now hold on, let me explain before you think that I have lost it. A good lie consists of its majority being true and therefore believable but with a twist. The truth is that God does allow things to happen that can be harmful which we don’t understand why ( which we see in Job’s case) but the twist that makes it a lie is that God wants and /or allows it to see how we react.

                 God is omnipotent… Time has no rule over Him. Revelation 1:8  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, " who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty ."  God is not only over time but also knows the future. There are over three hundred prophecies fulfilled by the birth, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The  first prophecy was in Genesis 3:15 at the fall of man which was thousands of years prior to Jesus’ birth. But the prophecies are not confined to Jesus; Jeremiah 1:5  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations ." .  Another example is the birth of John the Baptist and still another is that Peter would deny Jesus three times. There are many more examples of God’s knowledge of the future showing that God knows what we are going to do. So why does God allow things to happen that we don’t always succeed at but often fail at?

                God knows what we are going to do but we don’t. God allows things to happen so that we will know how we react in different situations. We conquer some and fail at other times. This is done to teach us our weaknesses, encouraging us to grow, learning from our shortcomings. Once we have failed there is the tendency not to repeat the failure which makes us stronger. It also keeps us humble, reminding us that our salvation was bought with the blood of Christ, and not because you nor I are good enough. It reminds us that we are sinners and that left to ourselves it would destroy us. We cannot save ourselves. This is the purpose of The Law, to show us that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

                Satan is the father of this lie in order to destroy. He takes the blame off himself and puts it on God. Many a person has turned from the Faith because of this. Something happened in their life and they fell but instead of learning form it they listen to that little voice in their head bringing doubt that God is real and that He does care about us. Satan twists the truth around blaming God for evil taking himself out of the picture, dashing all hope. Satan is the destroyer, the father of all lies out to devour us.

                God is the builder and loves us enough to sacrifice His only Son to pay for our sins not to leave us or forsake us but to teach us.

Remember, when you fall

God is there to pick you up

Satan is kicking you while you are down.