Why Good Christians Suffer: PART 16

(Beginning of Series)

Why does God allow us to be strongly tempted?

We have seen that temptation and suffering are inseparable. They are not only joined at the hip but joined at three places:

* The same Greek word can be translated either trial or temptation.

In each of the following, the same Greek word is used.

Temptation

Matthew 6:13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. . . .

Luke 4:13 When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.

Trial

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

Test

Revelation 3:10 Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

* Suffering can become a serious source of temptation. It can tempt us to chemical abuse, resent God, deny him, or the ultimate refusal to serve him on earth: kill ourselves.

* Intense temptation can itself be a significant form of suffering.

Not surprisingly, given its strong connection with suffering, we have already mentioned temptation several times. There is still more to learn, however. This time we will focus on what for many people is a staggering concept: the spiritual benefits of temptation.

Understandably, most of us view temptation as an entirely negative experience, even when we end up victorious over it. Nevertheless, not only does Scripture say it was necessary (Hebrews 2:17) for the Son of God to be made like us and thus suffer temptation (Hebrews 2:18), Jesus himself says that temptation of other people “must” happen (Matthew 18:7) or, as Luke 17:1 puts it, it is “impossible” for temptations not to occur. Additionally, Romans 8:28 says “all things [including temptation?] work together for good” for those who are devoted to God.

The Necessity of Jesus’ Temptations

Obligated says the WEB version of Hebrews 2:17, as well as the New Heart English Bible, the Modern English Version, the Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament and the Lexham English Bible.

Necessary says the New Living Translation.

It was essential says the Amplified Bible.

A number of versions use the uncommon word behoved, meaning a duty or responsibility.

Most versions simply say had to.

Suffer Temptation

Bible translations are extremely consistent in using the word suffer in reference to Jesus being tempted (Hebrews 2:18) and rightly so because the identical Greek word is used in contexts such as the following.

Matthew 16:21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.

Matthew 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water.

Luke 22:15 . . . I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer

Acts 9:16 For I will show him [Paul] how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

We cannot gain maximum understanding of why Christians suffer without probing this mystery.

Before plunging in, however, let’s query Scripture’s implication that temptations are necessary. Why, if nothing is impossible with God, is anything ‘necessary’? Let’s begin by reminding ourselves that just because God has no limitations does not mean that the humans he relates to have no limitations. Then, just because something is possible does not make it good or wise. This brings to mind:

1 Corinthians 10:23 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build up.

And this, in turn, makes my mind leap to:

Hebrews 2:10  . . . it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. (NIV, emphasis mine.)

The bottom line, however, is that for most things I neither have the full answer, nor do I need it. My soul soars in agreement with the heart-warming words of a Christian who suffered the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, “When you know God, you don’t need to know why” (Source: I do not recall the exact source. It might have been Corrie ten Boom, possibly in The Hiding Place.).

Nevertheless, our wonderful Lord has superb reasons for everything he does and the more we seek him in faith, the more answers we will find – and the more we will marvel. So let’s proceed with exploring why God allows strong temptation.

I used to presume the divine ideal is for us to be miraculously delivered from all addictions and besetting sins in an instant and thereafter suffer no more cravings. I eventually discovered that this is so devoid of wisdom that I now feel a little foolish for thinking that way. I have told the story elsewhere, and if you have already read it, I suggest you skip to the next question. If this concept is new to you, however, it is so relevant to our topic that I will include a shortened version here.

Thinking such testimonies would draw people to God, I interviewed people who had had miraculous, almost effortless, deliverances from terrible addictions. As I proceeded, however, I grew increasingly perplexed to discover that despite spectacular victory over heroin, alcoholism or whatever, almost all of them, much to their frustration and embarrassment, were still floundering in a battle with at least one other addiction, often smoking. I never sought such information. It was so bothering them that they blurted it out.

Sincerely wanting answers that would empower Christians to live in victory, I passionately sought God, puzzling over why he allows this conflict to persist.

Temptation is never from God and always from the Evil One or from our own evil heart. What the Lord revealed to me, however, is that strong temptation does a work in us that an easy, temptation-free life can never achieve.

I discovered there are two types of divine deliverances from slavery to sin. There is the sudden deliverance that takes almost no effort on the person’s part, and there is the slow deliverance that requires the person to cooperate with God in fighting a prolonged, painful battle with temptation.

The deliverance where God does it all, is a manifestation of God’s power and brings him great glory – at least initially. The deliverance that hinges on our partnership, however, is a manifestation of God’s love and wisdom, and brings us eternal glory. In the second type, God risks his name being blackened whenever we fall, and he dares share with us the honor when we win. Like nothing else, the prolonged battle builds within us the Godlike character that equips us to rule with God for all eternity. God loves us so much that, eventually, the opportunity for this training comes to all of us, if we live long enough.

Often what most keeps us bound to sin is that we are inadequately motivated. Anyone, for instance, who thinks he can’t stop stealing, suddenly finds new power to resist when a police officer is near. The removal of temptation might make our actions more Godlike but it wouldn’t do a thing to make our heart more Godlike. It would do nothing to heighten our personal motivation to do what is right.

To be like Christ is to sweat blood praying, ‘Not my will.’ Jesus, who might just happen to know a bit more about it than your average evangelist, said that to be his follower we must deny ourselves (Luke 9:23, note the context).

The Context

Luke 9:22-25 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.” He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

If Bill’s flesh is crying out for sin and he fights that desire, he is denying himself. With every second’s resistance, he is becoming more like his Savior. Take away the craving for sin, however, and that opportunity is lost. Without that nagging itch to sin, Bill could act as godly as an archangel while pursuing his own desires as selfishly as the devil. He wouldn’t be choosing to do what is right but simply doing whatever he felt like. Even the devil can act like an angel of light, says Scripture. What matters is one’s motives for acting that way. There is no glory in acting godly if your heart is black.

Rather than help us, the weakening of temptation would merely deceive us by concealing just how much unlike God our motives and heart really are. It could also produce false confidence, lulling us into straying dangerously far from God into enemy territory.

To better understand the importance of motives, consider for a moment what might motivate a married man to stop looking at other women.

Pure selfishness

If his wife catches him eyeing women one more time, she’ll divorce him and that would cost him mega bucks, people might think him a loser and he would have to do more housework.

He couldn’t bear for her to withdraw her love

That’s a far nobler motivation. He forces himself not to eye other women because his wife’s love and approval mean everything to him.

He’d hate for his wife to be hurt.

That’s even better. He restrains himself because even if she kept loving him, he doesn’t want her to feel the slightest hurt.

He longs to make her as happy as he possibly can

Better still: he doesn’t want merely to avoid hurting her, he passionately seeks her happiness, and for this, he keeps his eyes pure.

He longs to do what is right

Another advance: even when his wife would never know, he still forces himself to not look at other women, simply because he wants to remain faithful to her.

He only has eyes for her

Through persistent effort, he has eventually so trained himself to delight exclusively in his wife that, most of the time, every other woman might as well be wallpaper. This does not mean he is never tempted. Temptation is spiritual rape whereby hostile spiritual powers assault us with feelings that come from them, not from our heart. Even Jesus suffered a violation of his purity that came from the devil, not his heart. Nevertheless, years of persistent self-discipline have brought this man to the point where it is his habitual, unthinking response to only have eyes for his wife. He has had so many victories in this realm and it has become such a deeply ingrained part of his character that the devil has virtually given up all hope of successfully using women to entice him.

Sidenote: We might seem to be straying off topic but any insight into temptation is an insight into suffering, since temptation is a form of suffering, and suffering is a form of temptation. One follows the other as day follows night, and night follows day. You cannot have one without it eventually turning into the other.

Slide your eyes back down those numbered lines and note the progression. God is working within us, seeking to coax us through a similar progression in our motives for serving God; advancing from fear of punishment, to not wanting to hurt God, to longing to delight God. Each higher motivation should add to, not replace, lower ones. Thus we should never lose our longing to delight God, but we can add to it by becoming so like God that we do right not only because it thrills our divine Lover but also simply because it is right. Finally, our heart can be so Godlike that we find ourselves doing the right thing because it is our very nature – our heart response. But for our motivation to be perfect, underneath that unthinking response must be the other levels of motivation, right down to being terrified of the consequences of disobeying God.

Of course, the holy Lord neither wants us to fail, nor tempts us. He simply doesn’t always hide from us our inadequacies by miraculously removing temptation. The resulting struggle helps bring us to the point where, in the words of Jesus, we hunger and thirst after righteousness, displaying a passion for holy living worthy of a child of God.

Here’s how it works: whenever we surrender to temptation, it hurts us, either by the natural consequences of sin or by the conviction and disappointment we feel at having failed. For a Christian, the end result of the unpleasantness of failing is that we learn to hate sin more, appreciate God’s love and grace more, and realize more fully how as an embryo must draw everything from its mother for its survival, so we desperately need to draw upon God and his fellowship for everything that sustains our spiritual life.

Like many delays in answered prayer, God not responding to a lazy prayer for instant deliverance from temptation serves to purify our motives and to stretch our faith and so expand it.

It seems obvious that, in the short-term at least, the Almighty would receive the greatest glory by miraculously removing temptation from his loved ones. I have provided a logical explanation, but is it really biblical to believe that the Holy One would choose to deny himself that glory by letting temptation rage in the lives of those Christ died for, despite their cries for an easier life?

As a child, I memorized what is arguably the Bible’s most powerful promise of victory over temptation. Ever since, I have clung to this glorious truth like a limpet to a rock in stormy seas. Ironically, despite my passion for this life-saving Scripture, there is an aspect of it that had eluded me for almost half a century. Thankfully, I had gleaned this truth from other parts of God’s Word but I had not seen it in this Scripture. Here’s the verse:

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

What had not hit me is that this is nothing remotely like a promise that God would make strong temptation melt away for his beloved. Instead, it is a promise that we would be able “to endure it.” The King James Version uses the expression “able to bear it.” The point is that if the divinely-provided “way to escape” was for the temptation to go away, there would be nothing to “bear” or “endure”.

Too many Christians wrongly suppose that if temptation continues to rage after prayer, there must be something wrong. The divine game-plan has never been to prevent us from being hit repeatedly by fierce temptation, but to empower us to endure it. The promise is not that God will mollycoddle us, treating us as embarrassing weaklings who would shame him the moment things get tough, but that God will hide within us everything that we need to heroically survive the onslaught – and by so doing be acclaimed forever as spiritual champions.

Even in the Old Testament, God’s people were called to fight the enemy, keep themselves holy and in no way compromise and yet, for at least two divinely brilliant reasons, God chose not to give them quick deliverances but to keep them battling their enemies year after year:

Exodus 23:29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.

Judges 3:1-2 Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war . . .

What seems a simple solution –the removal of temptation, for example – often turns out to be a superficial solution. God is rarely interested in the superficial. He wants to do a work so deep that it gains you eternal glory.

Whereas the evil one, the very opposite of the good Lord, seeks to defile and degrade, God’s goal is to purify and exalt us.

The Story So Far

As some people are miraculously spared from suffering, some are miraculously spared from addictions and temptation, and yet for such intervention to continue indefinitely would keep them spiritually weak and vulnerable.

Continued:Part 17