James 1: "trying of our faith"

[Guest]

Steve,
Don't know if I'm going to make it to Santa Cruz 7/29 or not so here goes.
A few days ago, someone on the radio asked about determining whether difficulties were from God, Satan, or the flesh.
Question: Would that not be the context of James' statement about praying for wisdom? This does not preclude praying for wisdom in other areas, but it seems to be the specific context, or am I reading too much into this?

[Guest]

Hi, I'm not Steve but did'nt Job tell us where difficulties come from. Satan actually carries out our difficulties but only to the extent that God allows it just as the case with Paul and the thorn in his flesh. And God created Satan i believe as he was called "a liar from the beginning." God put good and evil in the same tree so we would have to experience both in order to grow IMO.

[Guest]

Was responding to a question that I heard on the radio, but as I was working at the time, I may not have heard it, or the answer completely or correctly. The question was, I think, how do you determine whether things are something God is putting in your life to go through, or Satanic attack to resist? (paraphrase) It is true that God even uses Satan to accomplish his purposes. The question had to do with our response. It is a fact that God can use Satan, (Job) evil people (John 11, the High Priest gives out a prophecy) or evil nations (The second Babylon Empire used as a tool of judgement, see Jeremiah). Jeremiah frequently told the Jews to submit to this punishment. Other times God, through the prophets told people to fight (see II Kings 14, I believe verse 25, In this case Jonah, sorry I don't have my Bible right in front of me.) Appreciate your response, this could be a potentially interesting, maybe even important subject. We submit to what God is doing, and participate where appropriate, and resist the Devil. (James 4:6) Would be interesting in reading further on this.

[Guest]

Corbin, When Jesus was in the boat with the disciples and the storm started getting bad he took a very long time to rebuke it . He allowed them to panic and even suffer to learn some leasons. But they benefitted from the experience and i suppose that's the indication of where the tribulation is coming from. The devil just wants to destroy us period so if any good comes from something it's probably not from Satan.

[Guest]

Steve7150
No disagreement there. I'm using a friends computer and don't have my Bible with me, but didn't Jesus say something about going to the other side before they launched. This was a test to be sure. In this case a test of their trust in Jesus. Theoretically, Jesus could have not done anything and they should have trusted what He had said, and went thru the storm, if that had been God's will. However, Jesus always did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19) and in this case what the Father "was doing" was calming the storm.
The proverbial "storms of life" are another question. Is this storm an attack from Satan that we resist? Something where our trust in Jesus is put to the test? Our response to that question dictates our reaction. This is where we, I think, need to pray for wisdom.
Remember, 1st century sailing was a much more precarious activity than the early 21st century. They didn't know, at the time, that Jesus was going to calm the storm. If memory serves, they were amazed that He could do that. "What kind of man..." Going to Jesus is not something I would ever discourage of course, but remember when Moses was about to cross the Red Sea, God seemed to think that was not the time to pray, but the time to move.
Assuming neither of us to be sailors, we can treat this as analogious to things we face. Is it from God or Satan? Do we resist, or submit? (James 4:6)
Here, I suspect is a specific situation where we can, should, pray for wisdom. (James 1:5)