A number of months ago, I introduced you to a factitious character named Timothy, who like King David, was truly a man after God's own heart, (1 Samuel 13:14).[i] However, also like King David he had a heart that got side-tracked by his own desires. I told you his story of betrayal by a couple of clergymen at his former church for essentially doing two things: 1) struggling with a sexual sin and 2) repenting of it and asking one of these two men to help him by being a friend. He looked to this man to whom he knew for over 10 years to be someone to whom he can go to for help for when he is running low on his ability to stay sober. After this incident his ability to trust another clergy-person was severely weakened.Several years went by and Timothy was simply unable to talk to anyone about his struggle; (lest he suffer round two of being betrayed from those who are supposed to be Biblically sound.) He of course had weeks and even months of sobriety, but he never truly found freedom from this sin. In his head he knew that no one was to be blamed but himself but in heart he took a play from Adam's play book, namely blaming everyone including God for his problems; his mind started to believe his heart that he is not at fault. He blamed the two clergymen for mistreating him and he blamed God for not taking this sin away from him. Lets take a closer look at these two main attitudes that Timothy had.
Choices vs. method of execution:
Timothy was justified in being hurt because, although what they did was not wrong, it was how they responded that was wrong; but Timothy didn't see it this way; he held that being disciplined was out of place and how he was disciplined was simply unBiblical. However it wasn't till recently when he fell in love with a very Biblically sound woman that helped him to see things differently. The day after he told her his story of betrayal this young lady ran home from work on her lunch hour and called him up to tell him that he deserved what he got from the pastors, namely their discipline was justified. After about an hour of listening to her (and arguing with her) he began to see where she was coming from. However he reminded her that the two pastors didn't act Biblical in their method of discipline. She agreed but she still maintained her position that they had full Biblical authority to excommunicate him from their local church. She held this view for one simple reason: just because they were wrong in their method of discipline doesn't negate the fact that they were right in their act of discipline. What made their choice of excommunication justified? One reason was that Timothy was in teaching ministry. He taught every Sunday that his students should refrain from sin; he said this all the while behind the scenes he was doing the thing that he told his students not to do. In sum he was being a hypocrite.
Its God's fault for not delivering Timothy:
Moreover, as I explained in the previous article Timothy pleaded with God to take his sin away, namely deliver him from the temptation so he can go about his day and serve Him with relative ease; and because God seemed to say "no" Timothy was angry at Him. However Timothy's beautiful beloved put things into a light that he never considered. Consider for a moment a tenant being evicted from their apartment for getting a dog after agreeing to not have any pets. How ludicrous would they be for them getting mad a their landlord for evicting them and suggesting that it was their landlord's fault for simply not taking this dog away from them, if they insisted that they didn't want animals on the premise? In the same way Christians are called to a standard of living that requires them to make sacrifices. How stupid then is it for Timothy to blame God for him not laying down a deed because God won't take the desire for the deed away?
However the question begs to be asked, "why wouldn't God deliver him from that temptation?" Timothy realized he was being lazy and he wanted God to strengthen him by taking away the resistance that, if dealt with daily would make him strong. There is a definite parallel between lifting weights at a gym and dealing with sin. Going to the gym takes discipline to get up, go, push through the pain and daily complete ones exercise routine. However if one sticks to it, they will see, over a period of time, not just an internal change such as feeling fit but also an outer change; they will have lost weight, gotten stronger and toned. In the same way dealing with sin is a daily routine and at times it is very difficult to successfully push through the temptation; however each day of sobriety will reward the person with the feeling of success and trusting in God's grace to be their spiritual fitness partner will promise blessings (cf. Jeremiah 11:1-4).
It is true that there are testimony's from people who can say that they have been delivered from a temptation, such as pornography or alcohol addiction, etc. Yet it is equally true that there are many other people to whom God has not delivered them from temptation but instead allows them to struggle with their sin. There is a lot of discussion among Christian scholars and layman alike as to what the 'thorn' in the Apostle Paul's side resembles (2 Corinthians 12:1-10); but one can say for sure that it was something that was hindering Paul's ability to serve God; and as such he pleaded with God three times to take it away (2 Corinthians 12:8); but God replied:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9
In Timothy's case, it seems God is doing the latter that is instead of giving him mercy and taking away his sexual temptation He chose to walk with him as he daily battles it. Why does God deliver some people from their temptations while he makes others battle them? This cannot always be known, but it could be for some people the same rationale as it was for Paul, that is to show His power through their human weakness. I'm sure there are other reasons God allows people to go through their sin instead of delivering them from the temptation; and perhaps nobody will know what some of them are on this side of heaven, but one thing that can be surly known: God will be with every person who is with Him.
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[i] - http://acrazychristian.blogspot.ca/2014/06/hyperactive-christianity-how-not-being.html
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