November 20

if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. — 2 Pet 2:9 BSB

Few will truly go to the Lord and cry out from the depths of their hearts to be freed from the power of temptation until the weight of it presses so heavily upon their conscience, so burdensome upon their soul, that only God can lift it. But when we feel the true burden of temptation, when even though our flesh may love it, our spirit loathes it; when we find ourselves torn, with a carnal mind clinging to the temptation while our conscience bleeds under it, and we come to spiritually detest it and hate ourselves for being tempted by it—then we are brought to seek God in sincerity, asking for deliverance. When this happens, I believe that the Lord will, in time, either remove the temptation entirely or weaken its power so that it no longer draws us into paths of darkness.

However, as long as we are in the state described by the prophet—“Their heart is divided; now they will be found guilty” (Hosea 10:2)—or, as James puts it, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways,” (James 1:8), we won’t earnestly cry out for deliverance. If we’re still holding on to temptation, casting longing looks back at it, savoring it like a sweet morsel, even as our conscience warns us against it, we won’t truly seek for it to be taken away.

But when we come into the presence of the heart-searching God, truly hating the temptation and crying out for deliverance—for His honor and for the good of our soul—then sooner or later, the Lord will hear the cry of those who groan under the weight of such temptations, and He will bring relief.