OUR HELPER by Frances M. Boyce

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 16, 1901

OUR HELPER.

By Frances M. Boyce

Having Been Tempted, He Is Able to Succor.

[By Frances M. Boyce, in Prophetic News.]

IN every emotion, in every event of life, the human heart craves sympathy. But most of all is this longing experienced and this need realized in times of sorrow and of temptation. And at such seasons, nothing but the real thing can satisfy the soul. We may have those around us who are intimately acquainted with our trials and difficulties; others, maybe, who have not only knowledge, but an understanding of our position, a realization of the heaviness of our cross, and the peculiarities of our circumstances; others may go farther, and have intense pity for us in our trouble or perplexity. But none of these will bring the needed comfort to the stricken heart; for none of these contain the true elements of sympathy.

Sympathy is something more than knowledge, more than realization, more even than pity. Pity feels for the sufferer; sympathy feels with the sufferer. Pity sits beyond the pale of the fierce furnace of temptation, and says condescendingly: “It is a hard trial for you. Accept my condolences. If I could help you, I should be only too pleased.” Sympathy goes right down and stands shoulder to shoulder with the tried or tempted one, saying: “This is our trial; let us face it together. I have been thru the fire; I’ve experienced it all; I know what you are suffering, for I have suffered before you, and now I suffer with you.” We may ignore the hand of pity stretched down to us, but we can not resist the arm of sympathy thrown around us. Alas! that the grace of sympathy, of feeling with, is so rarely found amongst us, tho all humanity yearns for it. Yet none need be without this comfort, for there is one Friend, who in every grief, every difficulty, every temptation, offers us, urges us to accept, not cold condolences, not tepid pity, but warm, tender, heartfelt sympathy. No harassed, stricken, tempted soul need fall into sin, nor drift into bitterness, nor sink into despair for want of sympathy and succor,

For Every Craving of Mind and Heart

and soul—aye, and of body, too—will be met by the sympathizing, succoring Saviour. The Word of God, sure and certain and unchanging, affirms it. It says:—

“We have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace; that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 4:15, 16. “In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren; . . . for in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” Heb. 2:17, 18.

In these verses we have:—

1. Two important facts for our comfort.

2. Two important conclusions for our stimulation.

First fact: Christ, made like us, in our nature, with its attendant weaknesses, was tempted in all points as we are, and suffered in such temptation.

Second fact: Christ having experienced the feeling of our infirmities in His own life, having suffered from the same temptations as we, is able to succor us as He could not otherwise have done.

It is wonderful how much actual comfort most of us derive from the mere discovery that some fellow-creature has been thru, or is going thru, a similar experience to our own. Even tho we may not be acquainted with, may never even see, that other one, we yet feel less alone than before, and our lot seems a little less hard, a little more bearable. It is the consolation that comes from fellowship which makes us feel thus. And God, who created human need, that He might make provision for that need, has, thru the gift of His Son incarnate, supplied the longed-for fellowship. In days gone by, men and women seemed to take it for granted that their spiritual advisers were made of different clay to themselves, and apparently were content that it should be so. But times have changed, and to those who offer counsel and warning, or who preach patience and integrity, the spirit of the age to-day answers back: “Stand aside; keep away; you know nothing about it. You may have your own peculiar temptations and sorrows, but you have never experienced the fierceness and bitterness of mine. Stand in my place, struggle as I am struggling, suffer as I suffer, and if you come thru stainless and scatheless, I will listen to what you say. But, till then, do not presume to dictate, do not pretend to advise, do not attempt to console. I will have none of it.” Thank God for the goodly number of Christ’s servants who, having graduated in

The School of Toil and Trial and Temptation,

have earned the right to offer help and comfort and guidance; but between the greater number of clergy and Christian workers, and the toiling, tempted, sinning masses, there is a great gulf fixed, and they turn from, rather than to, the professed representatives of God. Under such conditions does not the Word come with greater force, with more concentrated sweetness: “We have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”? Christ Himself was not satisfied only to suffer for man; He also suffered with man. He might have come to earth and died for our sins on the cross without living here thirty-three years previously; but it behoved or pleased Him “to be made like unto” us, and then to live a life of temptation like ours, that every soul, in every age, under every circumstance, might have the consolation of knowing that there was at least one who had fellowship in all points.

Robbed of their particular surroundings, their local coloring, temptations are the same in every clime and century. They are alike in essence whether they come to prince or peasant, to learned or ignorant, to city merchant or secluded invalid, to clergy or laity, to old or young. We need to distinguish between the setting of the temptation, as it might be termed, which is varied in almost every case, and the temptation itself; and to look for the primary constituents which compose that temptation, which are generally few and simple. Being clear on these points, we can now more easily understand that the temptations of this one life, or even the one recorded temptation of that life, may be found to contain the elements of every other temptation in all other lives, and thus we grasp the meaning of the assertion that our Lord was “in all points” tempted as we are.

“He suffered being tempted.” Satan times his assault for such an hour as we are least prepared to oppose, and most ready to give in to the enemy. But not only does Satan attack us at the time when we are weakest, he also levels his guns at the place where we are weakest. Christ had fasted forty days and nights, and, being human, was at the end of that time very hungry. Knowing this, the devil assails Him on this very point, by reminding Him that by the exercise of His divine power, He might be independent of the limitations of His humanity and His circumstances, and make bread out of the stones. We are not likely to be tempted to make stones into bread; such a suggestion to us could have no effect; but, going down to the root-principle of this first temptation, we see that it was really a suggestion to distrust God’s love and care, an intimation that God had failed Him, and He had better provide for His own needs by His own efforts and in His own way. How many a false step in modern days, in social, in domestic, and in business life, arises from yielding to the temptation to distrust God, to take our lives into our own hands, and do what seems most expedient for our personal interests, regardless of Christian principles. Christ’s answer to this was, as ours must be, that God’s power is sufficient to sustain, and in His own time and way He will do so.

The second temptation was more subtle, a temptation to presumption, to spiritual pride, to make a wrong use of God’s promises. And when Satan can not tempt us to ignore God, he will tempt us to misunderstand His designs and misappropriate His Word; if he can not force us into open and flagrant sin, he will try to allure us into the opposite pitfall,—pride of our virtues and our position as children of God. Satan assails us first in our weaknesses; if we come safely thru this test, he next assails us in our strength, and makes our strong points a very means of falling. Christ’s answer to this allurement is that we must not tempt God, or presume upon His grace, His power, or His love.

Then comes the fiercest temptation of all. Satan knew Christ’s mission, and God’s design, that He had come to win the world for God, and that the way to that result was thru the shame and agony of death on the cross; he knew also that, tho Christ’s Spirit was willing, His flesh was weak and shrank from the cup of suffering before Him. Therefore he offers to show Him another way by which the same end may be accomplished, but without pain and ignominy and death; how He may found His kingdom by force and gain outward success at once. He may spare Himself all this suffering and yet realize His desire or ambition; the only condition is to acknowledge Himself a vassal of the devil. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and then, as it were, said, “All these shall be yours, easily, immediately, if you’ll just say, ‘Please, Satan.’” Do we not, we who are believers, know something of the temptation to ambition; to do God’s work in Satan’s way,

To Choose an Easier Path

than God appears to have mapped out for us? At such times we shall only keep from yielding by using, as Christ did, the sword of the Spirit, and bidding Satan depart. Wrong action never furthers a good cause. If there appears no way open to you but a wrong way, be sure, if you look up to Him, God will show you another and the right way. Do not swerve from your allegiance to Him. Do not dally with the devil’s offer. It is there where we fall. Christ’s reply was prompt, decisive, and uncompromising. It contained two important doctrines: (1) Thou shalt not tempt; (2) thou shalt worship. If we walk according to these rules, we shall not go wrong.