But that passage in James goes on to say that each of us is tempted when we’re drawn away with lust and enticed and then when desire is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it’s fully grown gives birth to death. 

Satan attacks those who the Lord loves

The first answer to this question is desire. It’s fallenness. It’s our fallen desires in this broken, fallen world that tempts us away, that lead us into sin and then into death.

A second answer is the existence of Satan. The fact that Satan is very real and that he is a tempter. That’s his identity. That’s his nature. That’s his desire. Satan hates the Lord, but he can’t attack the Lord. So he attacks those who the Lord loves—he attacks His people. The best way to hurt me is to hurt my kids and my grandkids. And so Satan attacks us to attack God. He does that by tempting us knowing that when we sin, we lose the joy of the Lord; we lose the abundant life of Christ.  We also, then, sacrifice our witness. 

The enemy can’t take our salvation, but he can take our witness. 

So Satan tempts us to try to get us to give up that which the Lord intends us to experience - the abundant life - to sacrifice and to undermine our witness as well. Satan does that on a daily, regular basis. 

And a third source, I would mention quickly, goes back to (Genesis 3:5), where Satan says to the first humans, “You will be like God.” 

Frederick Nietzsche spoke of the desire for power as the basic drive in human nature. 

This will for all of us to be our own God, the desire to be God; that is really the essence of all temptation. They’re all versions of the same theme. 

They all work off of the same strategy: be your own God by stealing this or by lying about that, by thinking about this other thing or about gossiping over here. It all goes back to the same thing…trying to be your own God. 

So we have fallen desires, we live in a fallen world in which Satan tempts, and we are tempted by the willpower to be our own God. That’s just a perennial fact of life in this fallen world.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is (1 Corinthians 10:13), where the Bible says “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

That’s where we sometimes get the idea that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. 

It’s not true. 

What it’s really saying is that God won’t allow anything in your life that He won’t give you the ability to handle. He won’t allow that temptation in your life that He will not give you the ability to defeat.  Here are some thoughts that come out of that:

First of all, there are lots of temptations in my life that I can defeat without God’s help. It happens to be the case for all of us. There  are certain areas in our lives where we’re just not tempted. 

I happen, for instance, not to be tempted by illegal drugs—I’m not bragging about that. There are a lot of things I am tempted by, that just happens to not be one of them. So Satan doesn’t waste his time with that. I never have drug dealers come up and try to offer me illegal drugs, because the enemy knows that’s something I can defeat myself.

However, he does know the parts of my life where I cannot defeat temptation myself. He knows that better than I do and that’s where he tempts me. 

Satan attempts to be in areas where he knows I cannot defeat these things without the help of God. But he doesn’t want me to acknowledge that he wants me to fight back in my strength. 

He wants me to try to defeat this myself. It’s like a tug of war with quicksand in the middle. 

Rather than calling for help, he wants me to pull on the rope until inch by inch, I’m dragged into the quicksand and can’t get out. That’s what he wants to do. 

So when I face temptation the first thing I have to recognize is that I can’t defeat this myself, or I wouldn’t be facing it. I can’t defeat this in my strength, or Satan, who’s much better at tempting me than I am at resisting, wouldn’t be wasting his time with this. 

It may look like I can defeat it. It may look like something I can win myself. But that’s not really true. So I have to develop the impulse of turning immediately to God with the temptation. 

First, recognize I can’t defeat it. 

Second, take it instantly to God. Don’t try to defeat it myself. Go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I’m being tempted to do this. Sin looks like this, Lord. The enemy is trying to get me to do this.” 

Ask the Lord to give me the strength to defeat the enemy and He will do it. Sometimes it’s in that moment. Sometimes, it’s through other people. Sometimes it's the circumstances. If it’s an addictive issue, it may involve counseling, therapy, and medical intervention. 

But God will give you the ability to do this. (First Corinthians 10:13) tells us that God will give you the strength to defeat this if you will turn to Him. So turn quickly and immediately to Him, and then when you win the victory, the next time it comes back, turn to Him again. Keep trusting Him with this. 

If you do follow the temptation, ask God to forgive you, cleanse you, and restore you to Himself. Ask again for the power you need to defeat the enemy in your life. If Jesus was tempted, we will be tempted. But the good news, the great news, is that greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world. 

Used with permission by Global Media Outreach from Dr. Jim Denison https://www.denisonforum.org/  Originally published March 19, 2021