So long as we live in the world, we cannot be without trouble and trial. Wherefore it is written in Job, The life of man upon the earth is a trial.
And therefore ought each of us to give heed concerning trials and temptations, and watch unto prayer, lest the devil find occasion to deceive; for he never sleepeth, but goes about seeking whom he may devour. No man is so perfect in holiness that he has never temptations, nor can we ever be wholly free from them.
✦ We Cannot Be Without Trouble and Trial
Kempis opens the fifth day with the plainest truth in Scripture — spoken first by Job, the man who knew it best: the life of man upon the earth is a trial. Not a holiday. Not a reward. Not a season between trials. The life itself is the trial. And no holiness exempts the soul from it. No position so sacred, no place so secret — as Kempis said yesterday — is without temptation. The one who expects to find a life free from trouble has misunderstood what life is.
And the instruction is not to escape but to watch and pray. Give heed. Stay awake. The enemy does not sleep — he goes about seeking whom he may devour. The soul that stops watching because the trial has paused has mistaken the pause for the end. The trial is the life. The watching is the discipline. The prayer is the lifeline. 🙏
Yet, notwithstanding, temptations turn greatly unto our profit, even though they be great and hard to bear; for through them we are humbled, purified, instructed.
All Saints have passed through much tribulation and temptation, and have profited thereby. And they who endured not temptation became reprobate and fell away. There is no position so sacred, no place so secret, that it is without temptations and adversities.
✦ Humbled, Purified, Instructed
Three words — and they are the curriculum of the trial. Humbled — the temptation shows the soul what she is, not what she imagines herself to be. Purified — the fire burns away what cannot stand. Instructed — the lesson comes through the suffering, not through the lecture. The soul learns what no book can teach — because the knowledge is carved into the experience itself.
And the Saints — all of them, without exception — passed through tribulation. Not around it. Not above it. Through. The ones who profited were the ones who endured. The ones who fell away were the ones who refused the trial. To think otherwise is deception. The sacred position does not protect. The secret place does not hide. The trial finds every soul — and every soul is given the choice: endure and profit, or flee and fall. 🙏
There is no man wholly free from temptations so long as he lives, because we have the root of temptation within ourselves, in that we are born in concupiscence.
One temptation or sorrow passes, and another comes; and always we shall have somewhat to suffer, for we have fallen from perfect happiness. Many who seek to fly from temptations fall yet more deeply into them. By flight alone we cannot overcome, but by endurance and true humility we are made stronger than all our enemies.
✦ You Cannot Flee What You Carry
We have the root of temptation within ourselves. Not in the circumstances. Not in the city or the country. Not in the difficult people or the hard season. Within. The root travels with the soul. A new address does not remove it. A new beginning does not uproot it. The one who flees temptation carries the very thing she flees — and falls more deeply into it on the other side.
Kempis said yesterday: let us lay the axe to the very root of our life. Now he names the root: it is within. The only way past the temptation is through it. Flight is the instinct. Endurance is the grace. And true humility — the soul that knows she carries the root, that she is not above the trial, that she needs God in the midst of it — this is what makes her stronger than all her enemies. Not confidence in her own strength. Confidence in the One who sustains her through the enduring. 🙏
Some men suffer their most grievous temptations in the beginning of their conversion, some at the end. Some are sorely tried their whole life long. Some there are who are tempted but lightly, according to the wisdom and justice of the ordering of God, who knows the character and circumstances of men, and ordereth all things for the welfare of His elect.
Therefore we ought not to despair when we are tempted, but the more fervently should cry unto God, that He will vouchsafe to help us in all our tribulation; and that He will, as St. Paul says, with the temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it.
Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God in all temptation and trouble, for He will save and exalt such as are of an humble spirit.
✦ He Ordereth All Things
According to the wisdom and justice of the ordering of God. The timing of the trial is not random. The intensity is not accidental. The duration is not meaningless. He knows the character. He knows the circumstances. He orders all things for the welfare of His elect. Some at the beginning — because the young soul needs to learn early what she is made of. Some at the end — because the mature soul is being finished. Some their whole life long — because the calling requires it. And some lightly — because the wisdom of God sees what human eyes cannot.
Yesterday Kempis said: He provideth for us occasions of striving, to the end that we may win the victory. Today: He ordereth all things for the welfare of His elect. The provision and the ordering are the same hand. The trial is not the absence of God's care — it is the shape of it.
And the response — not despair, but fervent prayer. He will, as St. Paul says, with the temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13. The way is always made. The ability to bear it is always given. And the humble spirit — the one that kneels under the mighty hand rather than fighting against it — will be saved and exalted. Not the proud spirit. Not the self-sufficient spirit. The humble one. 🙏
In temptations and troubles a man is proved, what progress he has made, and in it is his reward the greater, and his virtue does the more appear.
Nor is it a great thing if a man be devout and zealous so long as he suffers no affliction; but if he behave himself patiently in the time of adversity, then is there hope of great progress.
In my times of temptations and suffering, nothing more blessed than to know Jesus was with me. He will never leave you or forsake you.
✦ Nothing More Blessed
Kempis says the trial proves the progress. The virtue appears — not in the calm, not in the easy season, not when everything is going well — but in the time of adversity. It is not a great thing to be devout when nothing hurts. Anyone can praise God in the sunshine. The great thing — the thing that carries hope of great progress — is patience in the suffering.
And the testimony stands: nothing more blessed than to know Jesus was with me. Not that the trial was removed. Not that the suffering ended. But that He was there. In the temptation, in the trouble, in the proving — He was with me. Hebrews 13:5 — He will never leave you or forsake you. The promise is not the absence of the trial. The promise is the presence in the midst of it. And that presence — the knowing that He is there — is more blessed than the absence of suffering could ever be. 🙏
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
To me, that's maturity — to count it all joy when you meet trials. You are moving on to victory.
✦ Count It All Joy — Moving on to Victory
James answers Kempis across the centuries — and raises the bar. Kempis said: endure. James says: rejoice. Count it all joy. Not some joy. Not partial joy. All joy. The testing of faith produces steadfastness — and steadfastness, given its full effect, makes the soul perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
This is the maturity. Not the absence of the trial — the joy in the midst of it. The soul that has learned to see the testing as provision, not punishment. The soul that has watched God make the way of escape, again and again, until the fear has a zero percent success rate. Count it all joy — because the testing is producing something. The steadfastness is growing. The completeness is forming. The soul is moving on to victory.
And James adds the warning that mirrors Kempis's single heart: the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. The one who doubts is a wave driven by the wind — tossed, scattered, never arriving. But the single-hearted soul — the one Kempis blessed with abundance of peace — asks in faith, with no doubting, and receives. The single heart and the joyful endurance are the same thing. 🙏
Cuidado com as tempestades de dúvidas espirituais. A segurança da vida do justo está em seu relacionamento com Jesus e na obediência à sua Palavra.
✦ A Segurança — The Security
Consuelo closes the door. After five days of Kempis stripping, teaching, warning, and building — after James raising the trial to joy — Chambers arrives through a mother's handwriting and names the anchor. Cuidado com as tempestades de dúvidas espirituais. Beware the storms of spiritual doubt. The storms will come — Kempis has made that clear. The temptation will find the soul. The trial is the life.
But the security — a segurança da vida do justo — is not in the absence of the storm. It is in relationship with Jesus and obedience to His Word. Not in a place. Not in a country. Not in a position so sacred or a place so secret. In Him. In the relationship that holds when the ground shifts. In the obedience that steadies when the wave rises.
James said: the double-minded man is unstable. Chambers, through Consuelo, says: the security is in the relationship. The single heart. The obedient life. The soul that rests wholly upon God — stranger and sojourner, wherever the road leads — because the anchor is not the address. The anchor is Christ. 🙏
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."
James 1:2–3 · The maturity — to count it all joyThe Life Is the Trial
The life of man upon the earth is a trial. No position so sacred, no place so secret, is without temptation. The trial is the life. The watching is the discipline. The prayer is the lifeline.
The Root Within
We have the root of temptation within ourselves. Flight fails — the one who flees carries what she flees. By endurance and true humility we are made stronger than all our enemies.
Count It All Joy
The testing produces steadfastness. Steadfastness produces completeness. Lacking in nothing. This is maturity — to count it all joy when you meet trials. Moving on to victory.
The Anchor Is Christ
The security of the righteous is in relationship with Jesus and obedience to His Word. Not in a place. Not in a country. In Him. The anchor is not the address. The anchor is Christ.