Temptation, Testing, or Fallen World?

I don’t know what it is, but life has just felt… hard.

People misunderstanding one another. Feelings getting hurt. Work to do. Family to care for. Trying to balance it all while also cleaning the house and completing other mundane but necessary tasks.

All piled on top of one another and it’s hard not to wonder if something deeper is going on. Is this what spiritual warfare looks like in 21^st century America? Is the enemy trying to just wear us out with all the compounded grief and piled-up hardships that we can never escape from?

Or is God trying to test us, refine us in this season? Is there something in us that needs to be removed, and He is using this situation to do a spiritual surgery within us?

What do we do in the face of hardship and trial? How does God want us to respond?

That’s what we’re going to talk about on today’s episode. I want to review some of the common reasons we experience hard times in this life and then share with you how I believe God is calling us to respond to each of them. I pray that it would be an encouragement to you.

Discerning Where the Issue is Coming From

When we experience hard times in life, it’s natural for us to try to figure out why. Where is it coming from? How do we respond?

Tempted

Are we being tempted by the devil? Is this spiritual warfare? Is he trying to knock me down, to get me to quit?

In Luke 17:1 (NLT), Jesus told His disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin.” Our desires war within us and we have to choose what we are going to do. And God regularly encourages us not to give in, not to yield, but to stand firm, to remain faithful. That’s why He tells to “put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11 NLT).

How have you been tempted before?

Maybe it came through the voice of a friend, tempting you to talk about someone behind their back, or to share confidential information, or to do something you weren’t supposed to do.

Maybe the temptation came through your eyes as you saw how much someone else had and you decided you wanted it, too, whether a physical item or a relationship or a position at work or church or school. You became jealous. Maybe you became bitter because you didn’t—or couldn’t—have it.

Maybe the temptation came from thoughts within yourself as you doubted your worthiness, your capabilities, your skills. And those thoughts could have been stirred up within you but they might also have been planted by the evil one, who wants to pull you away from God.

How have you been tempted before? And are you being tempted right now?

Tested

So first, we wonder if we’re being tempted or experiencing spiritual warfare of some sort. That’s something we all experience, and we experience it regularly throughout our lives.

But then we might also wonder if, instead, we are being tested by God. Is He using this season to refine us and transform us more into His image? Is He helping us get rid of things that aren’t pleasing to Him?

Now, let’s be clear, God does not tempt us. The Bible is clear about that. But it does teach us that God tests us, that He refines us. While temptation is about walking away from God and being disobedient, the purpose of testing is to make us more like Christ.

There are a couple of places in Deuteronomy that tell us how God was testing the Israelites in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 8:2 (NLT) says, “Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.” And Deuteronomy 13:3 (NLT) says, “The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul.”

Even in the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus tests Philip. John 6:5-6 (NLT) says, “Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, ‘Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?’ He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.”

And then there are the many verses that speak about being refined through suffering and hardship.

When have you experienced testing? When have you gone through a season that you knew the Lord was using to grow you, to build your character, to increase your faith?

Fallen World

Now, if it’s not temptation and it’s not testing, we assume we are simply experiencing the effects of a fallen world. Are other people’s sin impacting us? Are we experiencing sickness or suffering because we don’t live in a perfect world and it’s just how life is?

In John 16:33, Jesus tells His disciples, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” And Romans 8 talks about how all of creation is under God’s curse from the Fall. We experience sickness and death and hurtful things from other people because we live in a fallen world. Sin has entered, and we experience the consequences of it.

Sometimes people get sick.

Sometimes storms damage houses.

Sometimes we get into an accident.

Sometimes we lose our jobs.

Life just happens.

When have you experienced the fallenness of this world? What has that looked like to you?

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How to Respond When Life Gets Hard

We have all experienced all three of these. So how do we figure out which one we are experiencing in the current moment? How do we tell if we are being tempted or tested or we’re just experiencing the sinfulness and brokenness of the world around us?

This is where I’ve got to be honest with you, my friend. You can’t always tell.

And while it’s nice to be able to discern which one we are experiencing, the truth is, it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that we run to Jesus.

Facing temptation? Run to Jesus.

Being tested and refined? Run to Jesus.

Enduring the sinfulness of the world around you? Run to Jesus.

Let whatever hardships and troubles you are experiencing serve as an invitation to draw closer to the Lord. To talk to Him. To worship Him. To follow Him.

When I was in my twenties, I corresponded for a while with another blogger who was also in student ministries at the time. And he encouraged me in the same way. In fact, he ended one email with, “Keep chasing Jesus… He’ll lead you where He needs you to be.”

And that has stuck with me, even after all these years.

Keep chasing Jesus, my friend.

When trials and temptations come, when life feels hard and unfair and impossible, run to Jesus. Chase after Him. He’ll lead you where He needs you to be.

Journal Prompt: What does running to Jesus look like?

I don’t know what hardship you are experiencing right now, but I want you to hold it before the Lord and consider what it looks like to run to Him in the midst of it. That’s your journal prompt this week.

Be as specific as you can. What does running to Jesus look like right here and right now, in this hardship? How can you chase after Him?

I think for me it involves more quiet time with Him throughout the day, either reading His Word, or praying, or worshiping, or journaling. Just pausing to remember He is with me. Listening to see if He has any words to speak to me. Or even just sitting in the silence together with Him, letting Him hold me.

Prayer

I want to end today’s episode with part of a prayer by Robert Hawker.

“Come, gracious Lord, sit down with me after all the toils of the day…. Jesus, if you would only speak—even whisper—in the words of your holy Scripture, I would feel all the power, sweetness, and energy of its savings truths. One view of your heart, Jesus… will drown out all the cries of unbelief, all the noise of the world, all the temptations of the enemy. Then, Lord, for a while, I will forget every sorrow and pain, every difficulty and trial. And then will not the tempter flee, when he sees my poor feeble soul held in the arms of Jesus? Blessed be my God and Savior! I feel a sense of your strengthening and refreshing presence. My faith lays hold of you, and I will not let you go…. Amen.”

RELATED EPISODES:

• Episode 164: 3 Key Lessons for Journaling in Difficult Seasons
• Episode 103: 6 Strategies to Manage Overwhelm, Stress, and Change
• Episode 108: Just Because Something’s Hard Doesn’t Mean It’s Wrong

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