March 27

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation."—James 1:12.

BLESSED is the man that endureth temptation: it is a strange saying but a true one.

For it is God who sends me into temptation, just as His Spirit—the loving Spirit, the holy Spirit, the divine Spirit—drove Jesus into the wilderness. He develops my character so, and ripens me in saintliness. He teaches me my own impotence. He strengthens in me the habit of faith. He emancipates me from selfishness, so that I can enter lovingly into the hazards of my comrades. He deepens and enriches my hope of the country in which there will be no sin to entice me.

And it is God who helps me in temptation. Those are the moments when I realise the ability of His Word to put to flight the armies of the aliens. Those are the seasons when I find what mightiness resides in importunate prayer to bring Him to my deliverance. I come forth with a more inspiring idea of what my God is able and willing to do. And is not that a desirable issue? "Is it reasonable," John Howe asks, "one should be a child and a minor in the things of God and of religion all his days—always in nonage?"

And it is God who crowns me after temptation. He can make me stand. He watches from within the shadows, and regulates the education of my heart. He rescues me from the mouth of the lion. He lifts me higher through my sharp trials. Disciples who are bruised without being broken have a sweet serious power which none can miss. So I reap my harvest. Says John Howe again, "The world is full of miracles; we are compassed about with such, and are such."

Is not temptation blessed, after all?