Thinking About God's Goodness (1:17)

Second, think about how good God is (1:17)
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The enemy tries to make us think that our Father withholds what we need and lacks love and care for us. Satan told Eve that if God really loved her, He would let her eat from the off-limits tree (Gen. 2:9, 3:2). Satan brought up the issue of hunger when he tried to convince Jesus to sin. Why are you hungry if your Father loves you?

God's goodness is a strong reason not to give in to temptation. We don't need anyone else, not even Satan, to meet our needs because God is good and completely trustworthy. Being hungry in God's will is better than being full outside of it. When we start to doubt God's goodness, we will be drawn to what Satan offers, and our natural desires will reach out for his bait. When the Israelites started to enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land, Moses told them not to forget how good God was (Deut. 6:10–15). We need this warning right now.

James shared four examples that demonstrate God's goodness.

God only gives good things. God is the source of all good things in this world. It is not good if it did not come from God. It must be good if it comes from God, even if we don't see it right away. God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh, which seemed like a strange gift at first, but it turned out to be a huge blessing for him (2 Cor. 12:1–10).

The way God gives is good. We can change the second part to say "and every act of giving." Someone can give us a gift in a way that isn't very loving. How we receive a gift can make it less valuable. But when God blesses us, He does it with love and kindness. The way He gives is good, and what He gives is good.

He always gives. "Cometh down" is a present participle, which means "it keeps coming down." God doesn't give once in a while; He gives all the time. He is giving us gifts all the time, even when we can't see them. How do we know this? We believe His Word because He tells us so.

God is always the same. The Father of Lights does not have any shadows. God cannot change. He can't become worse because He is holy, and He can't get better because He is already perfect. The sun's light changes as the earth moves, but the sun itself is still shining. He did not make the shadows that come between us and the Father. He is the God who never changes. Therefore, we should never doubt His love or goodness when things get hard or we are tempted.

If King David had thought about how good the Lord is, he wouldn't have taken Bathsheba and done those awful things. Nathan the prophet told the king this much, as we read in 2 Sam 12:7-8, "And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things." God had been good to David, but David forgot that and fell for the trap.

The first thing that stops us from giving in to temptation is a negative barrier: God's judgment. The second barrier is positive: the goodness of God. It's good to have a wholesome fear of God, but you also need to love Him. We can obey Him because He might punish us, or we can obey Him because He has already been so kind to us and we love Him for it.

Joseph's positive attitude helped him resist the temptation of his master's wife (Gen. 39:7ff.). ". . . Behold, my master wotteth [concerns himself] not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:8–9). Joseph knew that God had given him all of these good things. God's goodness, through his boss, kept him from giving in to temptation.

God's gifts are always better than what Satan offers. Satan never gives gifts because accepting them always comes at a high cost. God's blessing makes you rich, and He doesn't add any sorrow to it (Prov. 10:22). Achan forgot God's warning and goodness, saw the wealth that was not allowed, wanted it, and took it. He got rich, but the sadness that came after that made him poor (Josh. 7).

When you feel like giving in again, think about how good God has been to you. Wait for the Lord to provide you with anything you believe you need. Don't ever play with the devil's bait. One reason we are tempted is to teach us how to be patient. David was tempted twice to kill King Saul so that he could become king sooner, but he didn't give in and waited for God's instruction.