“Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.”
Genesis 9:21-22
This passage is evidence that the Bible never sugar coats anything. Both the good and the bad are mentioned when telling about the lives of the great men and women of faith. The truth we see here is that everyone falls short, even Noah.
While drinking some of the wine that he made from the grapes of his vineyard, Noah gets drunk and passes out butt naked in his tent. As time passes his son Ham walks in on him, sees the sin of his father and unfortunately does what most people do today…he makes it fuel for gossip instead of seeking to be an ambassador of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5).
This here brings up an important principle.
God blesses us with every good and perfect gift. Wine is a gift and a blessing from the Lord. It’s a wonderful representation throughout the Bible of love and intimacy between us and God the father, it speaks of the sweet and rich work of Christ’s blood in communion. Sadly, like many gifts God gives to man, the gift is abused instead of honored. What was initially something that started as a blessing then becomes a curse leaving the abuser shamefully exposed. This is a good reminder that even great men of God are susceptible to sin. It’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can resist the enticement of the flesh.
And so it goes for us, whenever we start to take the blessings of the Lord and indulge in them for ourselves we’ll find that the flesh will always be enticed to go just a little bit further, eventually luring us down a road of separation from God.
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 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. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
James 1:12-15
Everyone will experience temptation, however temptation isn’t sin. We see in the verse above that temptation is just an opportunity to sin. Temptation only reveals who is in control of our lives, us or the Holy Spirit. If we are in control then we will always fall to our natural sinful tendancies, on the other hand, if the Holy Spirit holds the determining authority of our lives we can endure temptation and prove God’s glory in our conduct (James 1:12-18).
Let me explain.
In the book of James we read in verse 2, “…count it all joy when you fall into various trials…” the word for trials in the Greek is peirasmos. It just so happens that this same word is used in verse 12 when talking about temptation. It’s not a mistake in translation, the two words in English are actually the same word in Greek. This is because trials and temptations are two sides to the same coin. You see, when we are going through a trying situation we have the opportunity to endure by God’s gracious power, therein giving testimony by our conduct and character of God’s glory. On the flip side, in that very same trying situation we are faced with the temptation to compromise, not trusting the Lord for the strength to endure and in turn sinning.
The fact is you do have a choice…You can be righteous by walking step by step in the Spirit. We have our example with Noah, when we abide and walk with the Lord we are covered over in righteousness; when we go our own route we are embarrassingly naked, because in a way when we sin we are taking off the robes of righteousness given to us by our Lord (Rev. 3:5).
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 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.”
1 Corinthians 10:12, 13
