It has been a crazy growing season here in the Pacific Northwest. We had a prolonged cold season in the spring, with freezing overnight temperatures well into May. I am trying to establish a new garden which means amending soil, fighting pests, and learning what plants do well here. (NOT peppers as I have yet to successfully grow peppers in 3 years here! It has been disheartening to have put in a lot of time and effort tending, nourishing, and protecting a new garden only to see the plants be eaten by the insects, (aphids and slugs have been especially destructive this year) killed by an unexpected cold snap, or simply not producing or growing well.
I wonder if God ever feels this with us? After all, He created each of us with a purpose. (Ephesians 2:10, Proverbs 16:4, Jeremiah 29:11) That pesky free will thing, though, means that we can choose to move towards it or not. We too are ravaged by pests that seek to prevent us from growing; temptations that divert us from our purpose and instead lead us away from God. Unlike plants, that have little ability to escape from the pests, we do have an way out.
1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that temptation is common to man. Just like pests are all around and every gardener will have to deal with some form of pest or another, we can and should expect to face temptations in this life. While each person may face different temptations-the friend that wants to share a juicy bit of gossip, the choice between admitting to your boss that you are the one that messed up or allowing them to continue to blame your co-worker, allowing our emotions to control us rather than us controlling them- God doesn't leave us to figure it out on our own. He ensures that the temptations we face are ones we can overcome.
He knows us intimately and His goal is never to see us fail, but to bring growth. So He ensures that the temptations we face are ones that we are ready to overcome. (Psalm 34:19) Maybe you just need a little push to see that you really can walk away from the friend who just heard the most interesting thing about the Bible study leader. You can do it. You have been studying scripture about gossip. You have been taming your own tongue in this area, but you aren't sure if you have really beaten it. After all, you haven't had anyone willing to share a good piece of gossip with you.
God doesn't allow us to be tempted so that He can see where your heart is. He already knows. He allows us to be tempted so that we will see where our heart is. Sometimes that means we need to know that we absolutely can turn from it. Other times it is to show us an area of our life in which we have stepped away from God's design. Maybe you haven't learned self-control yet and you just haven't been in a situation in which you truly need to exercise it. No, God hasn't laid a trap for you to demonstrate how far you have fallen. He always gives us an out with every temptation. (Did you read all of that verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 10?)
That out may be as simple as walking away from the temptation, but in my experience the out tends to be the choice to turn to and trust Him rather than myself. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? While it is, it hasn't been an easy choice for me over the years. Trusting God to provide when we are in financial hardship rather than skimming some money from the cash drawer (after all, the other cashiers are doing it too) when I was newly married. Trusting God to make a way when we had the choice to stay where we were in a home I had raised half of my children in and we owned outright, or leave it all behind and move across the country and start over. Over the years I have had to trust the lives of my children to God, trust Him to protect my marriage, and so much more. Each time it was a struggle. What can I say? I am stubborn and want to do things my own way. But rarely is my way God's way. (Proverbs 19:21) And every time I turned from the temptation to do it my way and instead took the out and trusted Him, it has led to so much more than I would have expected.
You see, we can't always see the growth happening in us. Sometimes it just feels hard. It looks like a mess and we aren't sure where the good is in it. And then we get a little glimpse, a reminder that God is moving and working in us. Like a little mushroom that pops up out of nowhere.
Mushrooms are so beneficial to the soil, doing things that aren't immediately evident to the naked eye. They enhance root growth, suppress soil-borne pathogens protecting the roots from disease, provide nutrients to the plants, and help control pests and disease. Seeing them in my garden always gives me a boost. I may not have a bumper crop of cucumbers this year, but next year they should do better. And every time we overcome a temptation we are better preparing the soil of our hearts so that future fruit in our life (you know- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control) will produce bigger and better than before. So don't let those temptations get you down, rather rejoice in the knowledge that God is growing you and is so proud of that growth in you. (1 Peter 1:6-7)
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