God is sovereign. Meaning that He's the strongest authority over every thing created, especially Man. He is stronger than sin and its consequences. And He doesn't cause anyone to sin ... to do so would go contrary to His righteous and holy nature. The Lord does allow us to be tempted, though. And since we have been created with a free will, it's up to us to decide whether or not, or even in which way, we will respond to that temptation. Thankfully He keeps complete control of things and even orchestrates the consequences of our initial response. And He does this for His purposes and for the ultimate good in our lives.
Sometimes God allows sin to run its full course. For instance, when the Israelites refused to turn away from their disobedience, God "let them go their stubborn way and follow their own advice" (Ps 81:12). Without God's protection the nation gradually digressed into sin and gave way to corruption and this digression continued until they were overrun by their enemies. The Lord could have protected the nation from all this but instead He permitted these very consequences to drive the Israelites into repentance, which was His plan all along.
On the other hand, God often puts an immediate end to the sin. Such was the case in the Bible with Abimeleck who took Abraham's wife to be his own. Abraham and Sarah had misled him into believing she was Abraham's sister, not his wife, he was unaware of the sin he was about to commit. But God knew and He intervened (Gen 20:1-6).
Of course the best and wisest way would be to fully and immediately obey God so He doesn't have to use either of these tactics. Temptation is inevitable, but sin is not. God's sovereignty over our lives means that every temptation must pass through the Father's hands and through His permissive will first, and then on to us. In this way He ensures that His children are not tempted beyond what they can resist (1Cor 10:13).
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Running really late with my blog today. Sorry about that. So I'm just going to publish this post and promise to do better tomorrow.
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