And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and the devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: “God does not care for me; God hates me. Luck, and everything else is against me. There seems to be some curse upon me. Why should I change? Let God change first to me, and then I will change toward Him. But God will not change; He is determined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; for everything goes wrong with me. Then what use in my repenting? I will just go my own way, and what must be must. There is no resisting God’s will. If I am to be saved, I shall be; if I am to be damned, I shall be. I will put all melancholy thoughts out of my head, and go and enjoy myself and forget all. At all events, it won’t last long: ‘Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die.’”
Oh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such thoughts? Then hear the word of the Lord to you: “When—whensoever—whensoever the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.” “Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth? saith the Lord, and not rather that he should be converted, and live?” True, most true, that the Lord is unchangeable: but it is in love and mercy. True, that God’s will and law cannot alter: but what is God’s will and law? The soul that sinneth, it shall die? Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from its sin, it shall live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that God hates you. Never believe him when he tells you that God has been too hard on you, and put you into such temptation, or ignorance, or poverty, or anything else, that you cannot mend. No. That font there will give the devil the lie. That font says: “Be you poor, tempted, ignorant, stupid, be you what you will, you are God’s child—your Father’s love is over you, His mercy is ready for you.” You feel too weak to change; ask God’s Spirit, and He will give you a strength of mind you never felt before. You feel too proud to change; ask God’s Spirit, and He will humble your proud heart, and soften your hard heart; and you will find to your surprise, that when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed of yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel not worthy to look up to God, that then, instead of pride, will come a nobler, holier, manlier feeling—self-respect, and a clear conscience, and the thought that, weak and sinful as you are, you are in the right way; that God, and the angels of God, are smiling on you; that you are in tune again with all heaven and earth, because you are what God wills you to be—not His proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying yourself strong enough to go alone, when in reality you are the slave of your own passions and appetites, and the plaything of the devil: but His loving, loyal son, strong in the strength which God gives you, and able to do what you will, because what you will God wills also.