Testing and Tempting

These are the nations that the LORD left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses. (Judges 3:1-4 NLT)

The other day I had an interesting conversation with some friends. We were talking about the difference between God testing us and God tempting us.  The conversation came up because we are reading through some Old Testament passages like the one above, that state that God was testing someone.  The tests seem pretty rough.  God puts the very thing He commands them not to do right in front of them.

We know that God doesn't tempt us, though.  He tells us, "And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempted to do wrong, and He never tempts anyone else." (James 1:13 NLT)  What, then, is the difference?

Well, I think it really just comes down to this.  Testing reinforces teaching.  Tempting encourages rule-breaking.  Let me try an example.

Let's say that I teach you about fire for the first time.  I tell you that fire is good for heat when it's cold.  I tell you fire is good for cooking certain foods, thereby keeping them safe to eat.  I tell you that fire can burn you, though, so it must be handled properly.  Never touch fire.

Now, I get done teaching you all these things and I start a campfire.  We sit around the campfire, I pull out some hotdogs and ask you if we could cook them over the fire.  Then I ask you if we should hold the hotdog in our hands and hold our hands over the fire.  That's testing.  

Then I go inside.  Your best friend is sitting next to you and says, "I bet you can't cook the hotdog while holding it in your hand.  Try it.  I bet you can't do it.  I'll give you a buck if you do it."  That's temptation.

Testing reinforces teaching.  Tempting encourages rule-breaking.  We follow the example of the Tempter when we tempt people.  We follow the example of God when we test. Who's example do you follow?