Verse of the Day - James 1:16-17

So don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above. ~ James 1:16-17 (NLT)

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It's an interesting description James uses in describing God..."The Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows..." (James 1:17b, NIV). I like how the New Century Version expands this passage:

Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting shadows.

Our reference for character is so tainted by watching people, isn't it? We see so many people change like the shadows of the sun. One day they love you, the next day they've moved on to someone else. One day a politician thinks one thing, the next day they think something else. So many shifting shadows all around us...it's hard to think that anything in this world is constant.

We see the sun rise and set. We see the moon go from new to full and back again. But God stays proverbially stationary, while the heavenly lights go back and forth, creating the shadows on earth. He doesn't go back and forth, being good today and evil tomorrow. He doesn't think, Hmm, today I think I'll give Jimmy a temptation to make Him fall. And tomorrow, I'll bandage him up with a dose of grace. Gee, what fun it is to play with this human chess board!

James reminds us in the previous few verses that we can't accuse God of tempting us when temptations come. Evil can't tempt God, nor does God tempt anyone. We fall into our own trap when situations arise (Satan tempts so that we'll do evil, God tests so that we'll grow strong in the good) and we want what we want when we want it, in our own way, and we fall into sin. We can't blame that on God. He doesn't work like that -- totally out of His character.

Everything good and perfect in our lives comes from God. He's in the business of building us up, not tearing us down -- of desiring good things for us, not creating a mess. Let's give Him the glory for who He is and all that He provides for us, and not water down His character in our minds by accusing Him of things He could no more do than we could walk on water.

We will celebrate
and praise you, LORD!
You are good to us,
and your love never fails. ~ Psalm 106:1 (NCV)

Love,
Joelene