1. James 1:13–14 (ESV)
  2. Application

Blaming God for my sin

James 1:13–14 (ESV)

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

A way that we can shift blame from ourselves to God, is saying, well, God in his providence has brought me into these circumstances and I am just not strong enough to resist. So ultimately, who is at fault? It is God. Think of Joseph. Joseph often haunts me. A seventeen-year-old teenager, divorced from all parental and familiar restraint, in a pagan household, has a mature woman who is trying to seduce him. Now, who put him there? He confesses at least twice in his maturity: he was there by God's providence. But he could not take resort in committing the sin by simply saying, well, this is my situation. [We want to] rationalize at that point. The man or woman whose spouse is not responsive rationalize their [sexual] activity by saying, well, this is where I am. We all have these desires, [and mine] are not being met in God's providence in the way they should be met, and so we sin and we blame God.1

Joseph A. Pipa