II. That suffering exposes God’s people to the disturbing forces of Satanic temptations.—“Lest by some means the tempter have tempted you” (ver. 5).

1. A suggestive designation of Satan.—“The tempter.” What unspeakable vileness, ruin, misery, and terror are suggested by that name! All human woe may be traced directly up to him. The greatest champions of Christendom, such as Paul and Luther, had the most vivid sense of the personality, nearness, and unceasing counter-working of this great adversary of God and man. There is need of sleepless vigilance and prayer.

2. The versatility of Satanic temptations.—“Lest by some means.” He may descend suddenly, clothed with terror and burning with wrath, to surprise and terrify into sin. More frequently he appears in the seductive and more dangerous garb of an angel of light, the deceptive phantom of what he once was. Infinite are his methods; his aim is one—to suggest doubts and impious references as to God’s providential dealings of severity, and to produce apostasy from the faith.

III. That the temptations of a suffering state imperil the work of God’s servants.—“And our labour be in vain” (ver. 5). In vain as regards the great end of their salvation; they would lapse into their former heathenish state, and by apostasy lose their heavenly reward; and in vain as regards the joy which the apostle anticipated from their ultimate salvation. It is true no work done for God is absolutely in vain; the worker shall receive his just reward; but it may be in vain with regard to the object to which his best efforts have been directed. It is bitterly disappointing to see the work that has cost so much, utterly frustrated by a momentary temptation of the wicked one. How different might have been the moral history of thousands if they had not yielded to the first fiery trial!

“Of all the sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these—it might have been.”

IV. That God’s people may triumph over the greatest suffering.—“That no man should be moved [drawn away by flattery or shaken] by these afflictions” (ver. 3). While piety is tried, it is also strengthened by suffering. The watchful and faithful soul may use his troubles as aids to a richer experience and a firmer consolidation of Christian character. “Thus God schooleth and nurtureth His people, that so, through many tribulations, they may enter into their rest. Frankincense, when it is put into the fire, giveth the greater perfume; spice, if it be pounded, smelleth the sweeter; the earth, when it is torn up by the plough, becometh more fruitful; the seed in the ground, after frost and snow and winter storms, springeth up the ranker; the nigher the vine is pruned to the stock, the greater grape it yieldeth; the grape, when it is most pressed and beaten, maketh the sweetest wine; fine gold is the better when it is cast into the fire; rough stones, with hewing, are squared and made fit for the building; cloth is rent and cut that it may make a garment; linen that is thrown into the tub, washed, and beaten, is the fairer” (Jewell).

Lessons.—1. To live a godly life involves suffering. 2. A period of suffering is ever attended with powerful temptations. 3. The grace of God is sufficient to sustain and deliver His people amid the perils of acutest suffering.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 3–5. The Necessity and the Perils of Affliction.

  1. That afflictions are disturbing and distressing to the children of God.
  2. That afflictions are appointed by God for His people’s good.
  3. That Christians are forewarned to expect affliction.
  4. That Satan uses affliction as a means of temptation.
  5. That the faithful minister must labour and watch in order to secure the steadfastness of believers under his care.—Herbert, the saintly poet of the seventeenth century, exhorts the preacher to make the consolations of the Gospel his main theme: