Trials or Temptations?

What is the difference between a trial and a temptation? This question was raised tonight at our small group study. Since tempations can't come from God (according to James 1:13: "He (God) Himself does not tempt anyone."), we agreed that tempation comes from Satan, involves sin, and turns us from God.

But what about trials? If tempations are of Satan, then are trials from God? All trials? Does God bring all trials our way? Or does He allow things to happen and then turn that situation into something good? Are trials a punishment for our sins?

Does God cause the newborn baby to die? Does He cause the single mom to lose her job? Does He give cancer to the wife and mother who has lived a nearly flawless life? Does He cause a husband to leave his wife and children for another woman seemingly without looking back? Does He cause the drunk driver to hit another car killing all the passengers in it? Does He CAUSE these things to happen? Or does He ALLOW them to happen? I realize these are questions we may never have answered this side of Heaven.

Isaiah 55: 8 says, " 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD." So God does things for different reasons and in a different manner than we would choose to do them. We see in the here and now. God sees in eternity. What seems horrible, questionable, not understandable to us now; He sees in light of all things. We see the picture in a frame; God sees the entire movie--and knows the ending.

So, the question is not to ask "Why is this happening?" Instead, we should ask, "God, what are you doing in me in order to accomplish something through me?" We need to "consider it joy when we encounter trials" because we can know that the testing develops character which causes us to mature which in turn causes us to be more Christlike (James 1:2-4). At church this weekend, our pastor called these trials--these hard times--"pivotal circumstances." So when we go through trials, we are really experiencing "pivotal circumstances" because those circumstances have the power to change our direction in life, to change our focus, to change our character; they have the power to bring us closer to God Himself.

BUT the key is in how we choose to look at the circumstance. James says to "consider it all joy." Is this to say we should be happy that bad things happen? No. Joy doesn't imply that at all; instead joy is an acknowledgement in your heart that God is in control. So to consider it all joy simply means to weigh it out and realize that God knows what is happening and He is in control of our situation.