‘The man that endureth temptation.’

Temptation, when it comes from Satan, is not to try us, but is with a view of destroying us. View the word ‘temptation’ in whatever sense you please, the blessing is contained in the word ‘endureth.’ It is not, ‘Blessed are they who suffer,’ but, ‘Blessed are they who endure temptation.’ Let us take care to distinguish between temptation and enduring temptation. It is not, ‘Blessed is the man who escapes temptation.’ If the Christian escapes the trouble, he misses the blessing. It is not, ‘Blessed is the man who tries to avoid temptation, or trouble, by getting out of the way of it.’

Never try to avoid trouble for the sake of being free from trial. If you can sing God’s praises in the furnace, keep in the furnace. If you find that you can serve God best in your present condition, though it be a painful one, it is at your peril that you will seek to change your state. It is not the temptation that makes me a Christian; I am not a child of God because I suffer trouble. ‘Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.’ It is not the temptation that brings the blessing; it is the enduring of it. Enduring is looking up, and saying, ‘My God hath sent these trials, and by his grace I will take them and bear them all for him,’

C H Spurgeon