January 23, 2025

Annie Ward
"When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
James 1:13-15

I find the imagery interesting in these verses. Notice how temptation is caused by our desires. Our fleshly desires drag us away from God’s way. But I want to back that up even further. Where do my evil desires come from? The obvious answer is my flesh, but sometimes my flesh is more vulnerable to enticement.

This reminds me of a story about King David. In 2 Samuel 11 and 12, David finds himself enticed by a woman named Bathsheba. He goes to great lengths to not only sin but also cover up his sin. This is a prime example of when “desire has conceived, it gives both to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

Something at the beginning of this particular story always strikes me. In 2 Samuel 11:1, it says: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.”

When the kings were supposed to go to war, King David stayed behind in Jerusalem and did not go out with his troops. David wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Before all of the desire, temptation, sin, and even the death of a loved one, he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. How often is that true for us? I can think back to times when I gave into temptation, I was almost always where I wasn’t supposed to be, thinking about what I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about, talking about what I wasn’t supposed to be talking about.

Luckily, we worship the God who sees us, who loves us, who knows us, and who wants to “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). When we walk closely with Him, we are always in the right place.