Tag: Temptation

The tactic of the evil one

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A.B. Simpsonby A.B. Simpson

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you —1 Peter 4:12

Most persons after a step of faith are looking for sunny skies and unruffled seas, and when they meet a storm and tempest they are filled with astonishment and perplexity. But this is just what we must expect to meet if we have received anything of the Lord. The best token of His presence is the adversary’s defiance. The more real our blessing, the more certainly it will be challenged. It is a good thing to go out looking for the worst, and if it comes we are not surprised. To the contrary, if our path is smooth and our way unopposed, it is all the more delightful because it comes unexpectedly.

But let us quite understand what we mean by temptation. If you have stepped out with the assurance that you have died to self and sin, you may be greatly amazed to find yourself assailed with a tempest of thoughts and feelings that seem to come wholly from within, and you will be impelled to say, “Why, I thought I was dead, but I seem to be alive.” This, beloved, is the time to remember that temptation itself is not sin, it is a tactic of the evil one.

by A.B. Simpson

Resist and overcome

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A.B. Simpsonby A.B. Simpson

The furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts —Proverbs 17:3

Remember that temptation is not sin unless it is accompanied with the consent of your will. There may seem to be even the inclination, and yet the real choice of your spirit is fixed immovably against it, and God regards it simply as a solicitation and credits you with an obedience all the more pleasing to Him because the temptation was so strong.

We little know how evil can find access to a pure nature and seem to incorporate itself with our thoughts and feelings. When, however, we resist and overcome it we remain as pure as the sea fowl that emerges from the water without a single drop remaining upon its burnished wing. The harp, struck by a rude or clumsy hand, gives forth a discordant sound-not from any defect o the instrument but because of the hand that touches it. But when the Master’s hand pluck strings it produces chords of exquisite delight.

In nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God (Philippians 1:28).

by A.B. Simpson