That God Permits No One to Be Tempted beyond His Strength, and That We Must Not Be Discouraged ~ at the Temptation Growing or Continuing

BUT God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what ye can bear, but will make even with temptation issue, that ye may may be able to endure it (I Cor. x. 13), says the Apostle St. Paul. And if the temptation increases, there will also increase succor and support to overcome and triumph over your enemies and get the better of the temptation. This is a very consoling truth, and one to give us great courage under temptation. We know on the one hand that the devil can do no more than God gives him leave to do, nor tempt us one point beyond that; on the other hand we are certain that God will not give him leave to tempt us beyond what we can stand, as the Apostle here says. Who will not gather comfort and courage from this? There is no doctor who measures and weighs out the ounces of aloes to be given to a patient with so much care as the Heavenly Physician measures and weighs out the aloes of temptation and tribulation that He is to give or permit to His servants according to the virtue and strength of each. The holy Abbot Ephrem says very well: “If the potter, who makes vessels of clay and puts them in the oven, knows well the proper time to keep them on the fire that they may come out well hardened and fit, and serviceable for man’s use—he does not keep them longer than is necessary, that they may not get overheated and break; nor again less time than is necessary, that they may not come out so soft as to go to pieces at once when taken in hand—much more will God act in this way towards us, seeing that He is infinite wisdom and goodness, and great is the fatherly love that He bears us.”

St. Ambrose on that text of St. Matthew: Jesus went into a boat, and His disciples followed him; and presently there arose on the sea such a violent storm that the waves washed over the boat, but he was asleep (Matt. viii. 23-24), says: Observe that even the Lord’s elect, and associates living in His company, are assailed with temptations; and He sometimes plays the part of one asleep, hiding like a good father the love that He bears His children, that they may have more earnest recourse to Him; but God does not sleep, nor has He forgotten you. The Prophet Habacuc says: If ye think that the Lord is slow a-coming, hope in him, and be sure that he will come and not be late (ii. 3). He seems to you to linger, but in fact and reality He does not linger. The sick man thinks that the night is long, and the day is slow in coming. But it is not so; the day is not behindhand, but will come in due time. Thus God is not behind His time, though to a sick man like you it looks as though He were. He knows well the occasion and situation, and will be at hand in time of need.

St. Augustine applies to this subject the answer of Christ our Redeemer to the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary: This sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby (John xi. 4). Thus, he says, God often deals with His servants; He leaves them for some time in temptations and tribulations, so that He seems to have forgotten them; but He has not forgotten, but does this to draw them out afterwards more triumphant and glorious. So He did to Joseph, whom He left a long time in prison, afterwards to draw him out thence, as He did draw him out, in great honor and glory, making him governor of all Egypt. So you must understand the Lord holds back, and permits the temptation and tribulation to last, to draw you out from it to your greater profit and improvement afterwards. St. Chrysostom also observes this on the words: Thou liftest me up from the gates of death (Psalm ix. 15). The prophet, he remarks, did not say, “Thou delivered me, O Lord, from the gates of death,” but “Thou liftest me up,” because the Lord not only delivers His servants from temptations, but goes further, making their virtue more excellent and signal. And therefore, however hard pressed you see yourself, though you seem to be driven close up to the gates of hell, you must have confidence that God will draw you out safe from thence. ’Tis he that doth to death and giveth life; letteth come nigh to the gates of death, and draweth out and delivereth therefrom (I Kings ii. 6), when you thought that this time you were a lost man. And so says holy Job: Though he kill me, still will I hope in him (xiii. 15). St. Jerome makes a good reflection on what befell the Prophet Jonah when he thought that he was a lost man and there was no means of saving him, but they were throwing him to drown in the sea. The Lord had there a whale ready to receive him, not to devour but to save him and carry him to land as in a well-appointed vessel. Observe and consider, says St. Jerome, how what men thought was his death was his preservation and life. So, then, he says, it happens to us, that many times what we take to be our ruin is our gain, and what we take for death is life.

As with the glass flask in the hands of a juggler, who repeatedly throws it into the air so that bystanders think each time that it must fall and break to pieces; but after he has done that three or four times, fear departs from the lookers-on, and they take the juggler to be so clever that they admire his dexterity; so the servants of God, who know well what a clever performer God is—and have practical experience that He knows well how to play with us, lifting us up and bringing us down, doing us to death and quickening us to life, striking and healing us—have now no fear in adversities and dangers though they take themselves to be frail as glass, because they know they are in good hands and that the flask will not break nor be allowed to fall. My lot, O Lord, is in thy hands (Psalm xxx. 16).

In the Ecclesiastical History there is related a saying of the Abbot Isidore: “For forty years I have been assailed by a vice, and have never consented to it.” And of many other of those holy old monks we read like instances of temptations continual and vehement, that they fought with great courage and confidence. There were giants, versed in war (Baruch, iii. 26). And those giants, who knew well how to fight, we have to imitate. The glorious St. Cyprian, to encourage us thereto, quotes the saying of Isaias (xliii. 1- 2): Fear not, says God, because I have redeemed thee: thou art mine, and I know thee well by name: when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and thou shalt not drown; when thou walkest in the midst of the fire, thou shalt not burn, and the flame shall do thee no hurt, because I am thy God, thy Lord and Savior. To the same effect are those very tender and comforting words which God speaks by the same prophet: Ye shall be carried at my breasts, and on my knees ye shall sit and be fondled: as a mother fondles her little child, so I will comfort you (Isaias Ixvi. 12- 13). See with what love and tenderness a mother takes up her child when in any fright it has recourse to her; how she embraces it and gives it suck; how she puts its face close to hers; how she caresses and fondles it. Now with incomparably greater love and tenderness does the Lord receive those who have recourse to Him in their temptations and dangers. This is what the prophet said consoled and encouraged him much in his temptations and labors. Remember, O Lord, the word that thou hast given to thy servant, whereby thou hast given me hope. This hath strengthened and consoled me in the affliction of my labors, and thy word hath put life into me (Psalm exviii. 49-50). This should comfort and encourage us also under temptation, for God cannot fail to keep His word. It is impossible for God to lie, says the Apostle St. Paul (Heb. vi. 18).