MEDITATION VII.
MEDITATION VII.
ON BEING ENABLED TO RESIST A TEMPTATION
London, April 17, 1758.
Grace to help in time of need is the gift of God to the child of grace, and the greatest blessing we can receive from heaven in a state exposed to temptations from every quarter.
All within me desires to bless your holy name, that when the temptation was near, you were not far off; and that, as it was consistent with your divine wisdom to permit me to be tempted to sin, it was also consistent with your grace and goodness to strengthen and deliver me when I was tempted. As my finite wisdom cannot prevent my being tempted, so my feeble powers cannot resist being overtaken by them. I have your providence, therefore, to magnify, that I am not overtaken with more temptations than I am; and your grace to adore, that I am not overcome with every temptation which assaults me.
Human nature (and in me more so than in many) is like a pile of dry wood shavings; and temptation is like a spark of fire cast into it; then it must be power divine that hinders all from going into a blaze. O kind compassion! O tender mercy! O glorious grace! I am nothing; hence I shall think humbly of myself—but highly of your grace.
What a thorny path is human life! How is it strewed with snares, gins, and traps—for head and feet, for heart and hands. If I lift up my head in pride, I fall into the condemnation of the devil. If I am not watchful in my goings, I am cast into a net by my own feet, and walk into a snare. Vanity is ready to fill my heart, and wickedness my hands. There is not an organ of my body—but Satan has his deceptive weapons against it. For my ear, he has false teaching. For my sight, he has the lust of the eye. For my touch, he has the handling of the things that perish. He turns my desires into covetousness; my legitimate concerns into anxiety; my fears into despair. He would run down my hope, and attack my faith. Seeing, then, that I am thus beset with snares on every side, from every hand, O that on my soul—my one precious gem—there may be seven eyes, and a protection round about me better than horses and chariots of fire.
Two lessens I am taught, which, through grace, I never shall forget: 1. To be distrustful of myself. 2. To be confident in God, strong in his grace, and to boast in him all the day long. May the holiness of my life, show the sincerity of my gratitude. And may I mind with joy, that your name, as to my sweet experience I have found—is a "present help in time of trouble."