p. 2 | OBJECT OF TRIALS by M. E. K.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 10, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 10.

OBJECT OF TRIALS.

By M. E. K.

It almost seems like an incongruity to read in the Scriptures the following connected statement concerning Christ: “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan.” Mark 1:11–13. What! allow His beloved Son, fresh from the baptismal waters, to be driven into the wilderness and exposed to Satan’s temptations! So the record reads. “But,” says one, “if I should get a great blessing, and should receive the assurance that I was a son of God, I would expect an easy time thereafter.” Would you? Then you would be disappointed. Here is the lesson for us. God blesses for service, and service always means temptation, trial, and adversity. God loves His children, and “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” Heb. 12:6–8.

The Father chastens all His children, allowing them to go through severe trials, but He will never leave us nor forsake us. And what better time to endure a trial than just after receiving a blessing? It was so of Christ. Having just heard the voice of the Father say, “Thou art my beloved Son,” He was well prepared to resist Satan’s insinuating suggestion, “If Thou be the Son of God.” Strong in the faith which the word of the Father imparted, He was proof against Satan’s wiles, standing firmly against his suggestions, meeting every one of them by the Word of God; and when the tempter was overcome, and fled the field for a season, angels ministered to Him, and He went forth with renewed zeal and a clear accession of power, proclaiming the Gospel, calling His disciples and instructing them, teaching, preaching, and healing everywhere. Peter, at a later day, puts all this experience together in the following manner: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38. So Christ went through the experiences of blessing, temptation, and helpfulness.

Every son of God must needs pass through similar experiences,—blessings to make one strong to resist temptation: temptation resisted gives increased strength and confidence in God. This enables one to aid others, to be useful sons, thus helping the Father in His work. We should not then be surprised that temptations come, or that they sometimes follow very closely after unusual blessings. It was so with the Master; why may it not be the same with us? He was put to the test; why not we? He knows the exact amount of our strength, and He is faithful and “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” I Cor. 10:13. Notice carefully how we escape from temptation: not by getting away from it, but by being more able to bear it! Seeing our need, we cry to God for help. He hears our cry, and we are “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.” Col. 1:11. So when temptations come, let us remember their object. No temptation comes without the Lord’s permission. He may see that we need a trial, and, like a kind parent, prepares

us for it, and then gives us what we need. By the experiences thus gained we may test the divine strength as we never otherwise could; we may feel the foundations and the pillars of our faith and find them secure; we may prove God anew, and, having done so, may rest in Him more securely, experiencing all that an apostle suggests; when writing to some who were in deep trial, he said, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, tho it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7. M. E. K.