The adversities of life that come upon us sometimes tempt us to think that God is the source of the evils. As some men suffer, they may blame God, just as Job did when he wrote, “11 God has delivered me to the ungodly, 12 I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,” (Job 16:11-12).
Everything that the Word of the Lord records is truth, even when what is error. Job’s statements about God’s dealing with him were wrong, as the book continues to demonstrate. Job learns how wrong he is as God reveals Himself. In the New Testament, James reminds us of the same truth, that our temptations do not come from God, but have another source (which we may or may not be able to explain). We need to be reminded of the nature of the God that we serve. James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (1:17).
He did not want us to think of God in the terms that Job did. Let’s consider some of the gifts from the Father of light…