Have you ever wondered why Yeshua chose Judas to keep the purse for His group of disciples? The Scripture tells us that Judas was prone to take money from the purse and put it in his own pocket. In other words, he was a thief. Is it possible that the Messiah was unaware of this or, knowing that he had this weakness, did He put him in charge of the purse in spite of it? Was He setting him up to fail or was He placing him in a situation whereby he had to come face-to-face with his weakness? Maybe the intent was to provoke Judas to overcome his weakness in this area and others. 

In my life I have asked God on many occasions, “Why did You choose me to do this? Why did You invest what You have in me? You know what I am what I’ve done. You know what I have the potential to do. So why?” We know He doesn’t make mistakes and so we must conclude that He doesn’t choose perfect people but perfects those He chooses. He will allow us to be placed in certain situations, fully aware of our weaknesses, but not in order to provoke failure. I believe He allows these situations because He wants us to come face-to-face with who we are and what we are, that we will be challenged to become what we have been called to be. He desires that we overcome these weaknesses and walk in the fulness of His purpose. James said:

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one being tempted say, ‘I am tempted by God.’ For God cannot be tempted by evils, and He tempts no one. But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them.” (James 1:12-14)

I believe that the Messiah, being fully aware of Judas’ weaknesses, placed him in a situation designed to provoke him to overcome his weaknesses and be a better man. Who knows what could have happened if he had taken advantage of that opportunity? Likewise, when we find ourselves in a tempting situation, it isn’t God who tempting us to sin because He doesn’t do that. Perhaps He has allowed certain situations to arise that provide us an opportunity to conquer our weakness and walk in victory. If we find ourselves in a situation that causes us to wonder, “God, why did You allow this to happen?”, we must never doubt the goodness and wisdom of our God. 

Our Father will never orchestrate circumstances that are intended to seduce us to sin. He orchestrate circumstances that are intended to challenge us to overcome our sinful nature. Whatever weakness we may have, we will be challenged by it again at some point in the future. When we do face it, let’s look at it as an opportunity to overcome the weakness so that we can walk into the fullness of what our Father has called us to be. 

Shalom.