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“No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.”

— James 1:13

How you see God directly affects how you pray. If you think God is controlling everything happening in your life—every hardship, every difficulty, every trial—then your prayer life is going to be filled with confusion. You’ll hesitate. You’ll question. You’ll wonder what He’s doing instead of knowing who He is.

In this message, I want to bring you to a place where you trust God, where you’re not confused by life’s circumstances, where you know His will in general, and you can pray according to that will with confidence.

Because here’s the key point we have to settle in our hearts:

Trials will come—but they are not from God.

James tells us this directly.

James 1:2 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”
And then just a few verses later, James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

Now this is where original language study becomes incredibly valuable.

The word translated “trials” in verse 2 and “tempted” in verse 13 is the same Greek word—peirasmos.

So James is saying: You’re going to face trials. Count it all joy when they come. Endure. Grow. Let your faith be strengthened.

But don’t you dare say those trials came from God.

That changes everything.

The Problem: We’ve Blamed God for What He Never Sent

A lot of us have been raised with a subtle mindset that says, “God is in control of everything.” And what that often turns into is this: if something is happening, God must have either caused it or allowed it for some reason.

So when hardship comes, we start asking questions like:

“Why is God doing this to me?”
“What is He trying to teach me?”
“Why would He allow this?”

And underneath all of that is something deeper:
“Can I really trust Him?”

That’s the same question the serpent asked in the garden.

“Did God really say?”

From the very beginning, the enemy has tried to distort God’s character—to make you question whether He’s actually good, whether He’s actually trustworthy.

And that same thinking shows up today when we look at the brokenness of life and quietly wonder if God is behind it.

But let me be very clear:

God is not orchestrating hardship in your life to teach you a lesson.

Things happen. We live in a world where people make real choices, and those choices have real consequences. Sometimes the hardship we face is the result of living in a fallen world. Sometimes it’s the result of decisions—our own or others’.

But it is not God sitting behind the scenes, pulling strings, designing pain for your growth.

If that were true, you’d never fully trust Him.

Tests vs. Trials: A Critical Distinction

We tend to lump them together, but they’re not the same.

God tests the heart inwardly.
Trials happen externally.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 says, “God… tests our hearts.”

That word “tests” in the Greek is dokimazo. It means to examine, to prove, to approve—to see if something is genuine.

This is not God putting you through difficulty to see if you’ll survive it.

This is God working in your heart—relationally.

He’s leading you. He’s convicting you. He’s strengthening you. He’s drawing out faith. He’s bringing you into alignment with who you already are in Christ.

Think about Abraham.

God asked him to sacrifice Isaac—but did Abraham actually kill his son? No. God provided. This was an internal gut check to see if Abraham was in faith enough to cut a covenant with him.

That was not about external suffering. That was about internal trust.

God tests inwardly. He works in your heart.

But trials? That’s something different.

What Trials Actually Are

1 Peter 1:6 says, “You have been grieved by various trials.”

That word “trials” is peirasmos—the same word James uses.

Trials are external pressures.

They show up in your life as:

Difficulty
Opposition
Suffering
Temptation
Confusion

And here’s what they do:

They test your faith—but they are not sent by God.

That’s why James can say:

Count it all joy when they come
Let patience have its work
Endure

But also say clearly—don’t say they’re from God.

You have to hold both of those truths at the same time.

“God Won’t Put More on You Than You Can Bear”… Or Will He?

There’s a phrase people quote all the time:
“God won’t put more on you than you can bear.”

That’s not actually what the Bible says.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

That word “temptation”? Same word again—peirasmos.

Here’s what the verse is actually saying:

Trials will come
They are common to humanity
God is not the source of them
But He will always provide a way out

This is not a statement about God putting pressure on you.

This is a promise about God helping you through pressure you’re already facing.

And that should bring relief to your heart.

You don’t have to sit in hardship wondering what God is doing.
You can stand in the middle of it knowing He’s helping you out of it.

God Is Only the Source of Good

James doesn’t leave any room for confusion.

After telling us not to say trials come from God, he says this:

James 1:16–17
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…”

Don’t be deceived.

That means it’s possible to be deceived about this.

It’s possible to look at something destructive—something painful—and somehow attribute it to God.

But James draws a clear line:

If it’s good, it’s from God.
If it’s not good, it’s not from Him.

So when people say things like:

“This sickness is from God”
“This hardship is God teaching me something”

You have to bring that back to the cross.

What did Jesus do about sickness?
What did Jesus do about sin?
What did Jesus do about brokenness?

He bore it. He paid for it. He defeated it.

Jesus didn’t go around putting sickness on people.
He went around healing people.

That tells you everything you need to know about the heart of God.

Stop Embracing the Suffering That Jesus Already Paid For

One of the biggest practical shifts this brings is how you respond to hardship.

A lot of Christians have been taught to just accept things:

Accept the fear
Accept the confusion
Accept the sickness
Accept the struggle

And call it “carrying your cross.”

But if you’re going to bring the cross into it, then you need to look at what Jesus actually did there.

He bore your sin.
He bore your sickness.
He overcame death.

So instead of embracing everything that comes your way, you need to learn to push back against the things that don’t align with what He accomplished.

That doesn’t mean you deny reality. It means you interpret reality through the finished work of Jesus—not the other way around.