Howdy Friends! This is a pattern that every Christian must be aware of.
What should Achan have done? What should Eve have done, or David – in the situations they were placed in by God’s Testing Providence?
They should have been on constant alert to temptation. They needed to be able to identify temptation immediately, in order to rightly flee from it as Joseph did when tempted by Potiphar’s wife.
They also needed to understand their own natural tendency to covet. They should have been on the defensive, knowing that their flesh was a sinful adversary waiting to tear them down at every turn.
Once they identified the temptation they should have immediately prayed – Not enter into its clutches.
Jesus warns: Mt 26:41 “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
While praying to remain strong against the temptation of the flesh, they also needed to contemplate what God had said in His Commandment. Part of that contemplation should have been a serious consideration as to the consequences. Was it worth the risk? (Individual and corporate consequences must be considered.)
Upon seeing the Goodly Garment, the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, and the beautiful Bathsheba, each of these souls should have fled in terror and in the fear of God – Like Joseph from Potifer’s wife – from that which was prohibited.
Paul tells us: 1Co 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
These individuals were held accountable because there was a way of Escape from the trial of temptation. Nobody forced these individuals to commit the sin. They simply did not choose the good but rather the evil. AND they paid heavily for it.
This is a pattern that every Christian MUST be aware of. ~ Gitty up, Dutch.
