temptation we would become self-reliant. Before Peter was "sifted as
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power; only . . ." (Job 1.12); "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you . . ." (Luke 22.31). Each time we are tempted, we should remember that all temptations are with the Father's permission. Behind any temptation there is the hand of God allowing it. Let us maintain this attitude of faith that Satan cannot do anything against us without God our Father's permission. He cannot secretly add any more to it.
2. The reason why God permits Satan to tempt us. Without temptation we would become self-reliant. Before Peter was "sifted as wheat" by the Devil (Luke 22.31), he was most self-reliant. But after being sifted, he knew how undependable was his own strength. He then received the power from on High to perform tremendous work. If, for example, a little child is unwilling to follow his father and chooses to go his own way, he will hurry back to his father for protection when he encounters a snake. Likewise, without temptation a saint in his early stage of spiritual life will tend to drift away from the heavenly Father. But as we sense in the spiritual realm the presence of the evil spirits who try to tempt and hurt us at every turn, we will trust in God and dare not be self-reliant: "There was given to me ... a messenger of Satan to buffet me," said Paul, "that I should not be exalted overmuch" (2 Cor. 12.7). In our flesh there is no good, but how many will consciously acknowledge this? Because of this, God permits the Enemy to tempt us. Sometimes He even lets us fail so that we may know ourselves and cease from being self-reliant. This was the experience of Job. Furthermore, without being tempted we will not voluntarily appropriate the victory of Calvary. Because of temptation, there is the chance of victory—the necessity as well as the possibility of apprehending the victory of Calvary. Since we know the true meaning of temptation which is something unavoidable, we should ask God to give us the victory in Christ. We may know why God allows us to be tempted by reading 1 Corinthians 5.5 and Job 2.3. (To be tempted is not sin, but yielding to temptation is—see Heb. 4.16.)