Tested and Tried

Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them... They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. 

Judges 3:1a & 4, 

We live in a world of temptation! And it seems like temptation is always becoming more easily accessible to us. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which we are currently in, some pornography providers decided to offer their service for free to those under quarantine. As though developing an addiction to pornography would help people out. Yes, there is temptation all around us, and isn't just sexual temptation. There is greed for riches. There's fame and longing after the approval of men. There's hatred and the incessant temptation to blame your problems on some other group of people. There are temptations to violence and theft and lying and living only for yourself. 

These temptations surround us and there is nowhere on this green earth we can go to flee from them. I know because the monks tried. They retreated into lonely wastelands to avoid temptation, but it didn't work. Recently, I read the story of St. Benedict who was so overtaken by lust in his desert hideaway that he stripped off his clothes and ran naked into thorn bushes to combat temptation. 

We must accept that temptation is unavoidable in this world. But have you ever stopped to ask why? Certainly, some of it is a result of the Fall, but even before the Fall God chose to place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. Why? 

Scripture tells us that God often tests His people (Genesis 22:1-19, Exodus 16:4, Deuteronomy 8:2). Now if you think of this testing like a kind of entrapment then you understand it wrongly. The word for "test" in the passage above can mean to prove something. In other words, what God is doing when He tests us is to bring out and prove what is truly in our hearts. He isn't tricking us or tripping us up. He is proving who we really are. And in our struggle against the temptation of the world every single one of us have heard the message Daniel interpreted for King Belshazzar off the writing on the wall. "You have been weighed on the scales (tested) and found wanting" (Daniel 5:27) We all fail the test. We all prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what is in our hearts is wickedness and lust and greed and selfishness. 

What are we to do then? When our actions leave no doubt at all what is in us? We can either try to hide our true nature or we can drag it into the light and confess it before God asking for His forgiveness and grace. This is what the believer does over and over again. This is what I hope you will do. If you'll do this, Scripture promises that God will change you and give you a new heart. And as God transforms you more and more into His image you will win more and more victories over temptation. But you must be careful to never grow too comfortable. All of us still live in the flesh and none of us are beyond failing the test. So turn to God and ask for strength and help to pass whatever tests He will place in your path today.