Increasingly prevalent today, it seems more than at any other time in history, man continues to experience a sense of emptiness. Every day, people expend an enormous amount of time, money, and energy in hopes of obtaining this ever elusive goal of being happy. How can a people so desperately intent upon finding happiness find happiness so unreachable? The answer is quite simple. Happiness is not found in entertainment, money, one’s appearance, social acceptance, careers, achievements, spouse, or any other number of things where men continually search for this happiness. Instead, the Bible points out that happiness is attainable for the man “whose hope is in the LORD his God.” Hope can keep a man going when all other wells have run completely dry. Regardless of man’s circumstances, hope can put a song in a man’s heart and praise upon his lips.
The average believer would never consider the word joy to be an appropriate descriptive term for temptations. There is a great explanation for this as the average believer experiences little to no victory when tempted. Temptations put a man’s faith on trial. When his faith stands the test, he learns patience. Therefore, he sees temptation as a means by which he can grow in the Lord and add virtues such as patience. It is not that he finds joy in the temptation itself, but that God can and will use that temptation to make him "perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:4). Believers who fight through and obtain victory find joy in knowing that their faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).
The context of today’s passage confirms that it involves the temptation to do evil. This shows that the author of the temptation is not God, nor can it ever be Him in this context. The death of the one being tempted is the end result. This is why it is so very important for every believer to achieve a scriptural understanding of the source of his temptation. According to James 1:14, “every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” The first step of any temptation is a drawing away. If a man refuses to be drawn away, he simply cannot be tempted to do wrong. If a man allows himself to be drawn away, the Devil’s next step involves enticement. It is often at this point that the Devil captures his prey leading him into sin.
