10.06 The cry of the tempted
VI. THE CRY OF THE TEMPTED In the parable of the Unjust Judge, the entreaty of the widow is a cry of urgent personal need “Avenge me of mine adversary.” Is it not also the cry of many a soul under the pressure of relentless temptation? Many of us know that beyond the temptations to which every man is exposed there are some which attack us in our special temperaments, histories, circumstances, with special frequency and ferocity. Doubtless, alas! it is because long ago we surrendered the first ramparts that the attack is now constant in the very citadel of the heart. But even when we have come to repudiate the suggestions of evil, they still beset and torment us. And when we think of the ingenuity of the assault, of the insight which it discloses into the weak points of our armoury of character, we are driven to the conclusion that the enemy is as personal as, and far more intelligent than, ourselves. The prayer, “Deliver us from the Evil One,” interprets our experience better than the prayer, “Deliver us from evil.” Sore beset and worried with the ceaseless conflict, we cry out, “Thou God to Whom vengeance belongeth show Thyself avenge me of mine adversary.”
If this struggle be our lot, let us take heart from the lesson of the parable. “Shall not God avenge His elect which cry day and night unto Him?” Both the true reading and the exact meaning of the words which follow (verse 7) are uncertain. But we may rightly paraphrase them thus: Though He seems to hold His vengeance over them under a long delay, yet in truth He will avenge them, and that speedily. In point of time, the delay may seem long all our life on this side of death we may be in the combat. But in point of fulfilment of God’s will for us, the deliverance will come “speedily,” that is, at the very moment at which the great Commander, in His plan for our immortal destiny, sees that the time for our release has come. Till then, we have to keep our post. But the time will come when God will relieve the guard, and His sentinel can say, “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.” Meanwhile, our orders are, “Watch and pray.” We are to prove our vigilance by the constancy of our prayer. Indeed, even now, persistent prayer will be our best defence. For he who at the very moment of temptation turns at once to God in prayer “Now, O Lord, now avenge me of mine adversary,” cannot, while he is praying, at the same time be yielding. It is in and by the word of prayer that the Sword of the Spirit is kept firmly in his hand.
TAGS: [Parables]