Enduring Temptations
by Ichabod Spencer
"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him." - James 1:12
There is nothing in the Scriptures which give us reason to suppose it is an easy thing to be a faithful and sincere Christians. Provision is made for us to resist and vanquish assaults, but the security and peace of heaven do not belong to us here. You can scarcely have failed to notice how the most full, clear, and frequent promises of the Bible are occupied with the triumphs of heaven and not the temptations of earth. So far is the Holy Spirit from assuring us that we shall have nothing to tempt our fidelity, but he warns us of the fear of falling when we are tempted. He promises everything to fidelity when we get to another world, but he promises sparingly while we stay in this. Heaven he holds up to our view to encourage and animate us while we are passing through the furnace.
The believer is engaged in a warfare. Enemies are before him. The battle is to be fought: "Fight the good fight of faith." "Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour." Whatever we may hope, there is no situation in this world which places us beyond danger. Take any example you will.
There are temptations of adversity. It is extremely difficult for those who have nothing in this world, and can expect to have nothing, to avoid envying the lot of more favored mortals. The hungry man will find it difficult, by faith, to live upon the precept, "Take no thought for tomorrow, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink." The desolate man, stripped of those who were the joy and solace of his life, will find it difficult to say over the tombs of his wife and children, "The Lord gave and the Lord has token away, blessed be the name of the Lord." The friendless child of misery, whom adversity drives into the wilderness like David, will find it no easy matter to exclaim, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." Our confidence is apt to be shaken by reverses. Oh, how few are the Christians of whom it would be said under such trial, "In all this Job sinned not, nor cursed God in his heart."
There are temptations of prosperity. It may be more difficult for the believer to be faithful when the world smiles upon him than when it frowns. Prosperity places the means of sinful indulgence within our reach. We are very apt to think better of ourselves when prospered, as if Divine Providence would not thus distinguish us were we not more deserving than others. There are also correspondent duties which prosperity imposes, and there is no little danger that we shall fail to serve God in proportion to the ability he puts into our hands! How many rich men are in danger of being unfaithful in their stewardship, using their possessions as if God had not given them! It is no small matter to resist the temptations of prosperity.
If we look at the course in which God has led his own people, we shall find that they have been tried so as by fire. Can we find among the biographies of the saints anyone that entered into his rest by a smooth path? Behold Moses. His journey is in the wilderness. His calling is that for which he feels himself disqualified by nature. Hunger, thirst, the accusations of those he led, and his own impatience under difficulty present alarming obstacles to his fidelity. Behold Job. His possessions are swept away, his health gone, his children dead. Sick, bereaved, abandoned, and lying in the dust, he hears from the lips of his wife the most impious counsel, "Curse God and die." But despite the burdening difficulty, he received grace enough to say, "Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil also?" Behold Abraham, Samuel, Elisha, Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul, Silas. Who of them ever found a way into heaven not beset with most perilous snares? Testing ought to be expected by God's people.
And are there not among us those who seem to imagine that it is easy to follow Christ? Their religion gives them little trouble. They do not even know what trial or enduring means! There is no spot in all their experience where they can say they were tried. There is no leaf in all their history which tells the tale of their endurance. When religion is not a most distinct and important business to us, when we do not find it demanding effort, when it makes no calls but such as are easy to answer, when it leaves our whole heart sound and our whole life untouched with trouble, when it permits us to flow on with the world, then where shall be our evidence that we are enduring trial? How shall we stand in the day of Christ? When I behold the easy life and untroubled mind of many who hope they shall be saved, I cannot but tremble for what is before them! They are so much like the world, their hearts dependent so much on it. Can it be that they are the sons of God and their hearts are settled in heaven?
What temptation has tried us? What endurance has demonstrated our faith? What furnace has kindled upon us to burn up the dross and brighten the spirit for heaven?
