Stop blaming God, the Devil and others for your problems.
James 1:13-17 (NIV)
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
5 - The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith
The cause or blame
for this unbelief,
as well as for all other sins,
is
not at all in God,
but in man.
Faith in Jesus Christ, however,
and salvation through him
is a free gift of God
Summary
I spent twenty five years as a first responder, and in the thousands of incidents I responded to, I noticed a pattern in the inquiries of those who were passing by. At car wrecks they'd ask it sometimes even before we had extricated all of the victims, and at structure fires they wanted to know even as the fire still raged out of control: HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
James here is responding to that same instinct that is woven into our being to want to know who to blame when things go wrong. This instinct is actually a huge evidence for the existence of a good God who created all things and continues to provide. After all, if the universe was simply the random product of time and chance, disaster would be just as likely as blessing, so nobody would be surprised or shocked by it.
But when things turn bad, people demand answers, and too often the blame falls on God first. People who've done very little to educate themselves about God by reading and listening to His Word suddenly become astute theologians, opining that since this bad thing happened, God must either not be good or not be omnipotent, because a truly good and powerful God would never let this happen.
But James will have none of this. Whether you are being tempted by sin or your world is crashing in all around you, do not blame God! Our unchanging Father is the giver of every good and perfect gift. He is not the author of evil. Though He often allows disaster for His own good purposes, the primary culprit for every bad thing that has ever happened or ever will happen is our own sin.
Dig Deeper
James uses a word picture here that you fishermen will identify with when he writes that each of us is dragged away. Other translations render it as us being lured and enticed, the which is the same thing you attempt to do to unintelligent fish. The fact that James describes our wandering after temptation by comparing us to unthinking organisms driven only by instinct and appetite speaks volumes!
At least the fish have an excuse for their foolishness! Fish would never take the bait had you not thrown the lure in the water! James already taught us not to blame God for our failures, and now he designs to cut off the next most popular fall guy we like to pin the blame on: we love to say 'the Devil made me do it,' as if all of the lures in our water were placed there by him.
But notice there's not a single mention of the Devil or demons anywhere in this passage! Certainly we know that they can and have wreaked havoc upon God's good creation, but always remember that Satan is neither omnipotent nor omnipresent. Although Jesus calls him the father of lies, he is nowhere powerful enough to be responsible for everyone's temptations.
Ultimately you shoulder the blame for your own troubles and temptations. You're dragged away by your own evil desire!
You can't solve a recurring problem until you first root out the cause of it. Stop blaming God, the Devil, or anyone else for your problems. Repent of your sin, and cling to Christ who paid for your sin and gives you the power to overcome your ongoing temptations.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who does not change like the shifting shadows;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Repent of your sins, and pray that in Christ you will have the strength to fight and overcome temptation;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Acts 3
Amen!