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d < (H + L + F)
When the devil had ended every temptation he departed from him until an opportune time.
In the world of Mathematics, letters of the alphabet are used to denote quantities or amounts which may not be fixed in number or of known size, but which may change or vary. Such letters are known as variables. Here are some examples:-
d < (H + L + F)
The four variables, d, H, L, and F, are given a particular relationship to each other by the use of mathematical signs. Hence, in the equation given as an example, the variable d is less than the sum total of the variables H plus L plus F.
That equation is a description of the Christian's anticipated spiritual state.
d stands for Despair. The variable d represents the amount or degree of despair that any human being experiences at any given time during their earthly life. The degree of human despair can be affected by many influences or situations – some obvious, some subtle. The situation in the world can affect it, whether it be a question of things environmental, political, military, or even the results of natural disasters like famine or earthquake. Any given domestic situation can affect your level of despair, concerning perhaps your job, your home-life, or your personal relationships. Your own personal and individual situation can affect your level of despair through such factors as health, happiness, age, and a sense [or lack of it] of purpose and/or personal fulfilment. Many of these can be magnified by the suddenness of the change in any of the states, such as are involved in bereavement, divorce, or unexpected medical diagnosis. However large the amount of despair in one's life, spiritual health or growth requires that the remaining variables should be greater in total than the total quantity of the despair.
H stands for Hope. Hope can wax and wane over a large scale, like the remaining variables, L and F. It is a bit like one of those weather-houses. When the little lady in her summer dress is fully out, it is a scorching hot summer's day. When the little man with his umbrella is fully, out, it is either pouring with rain, or you have dropped the weather-house in the bath. In terms of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, hope implies that all the stones you see around you in the wilderness have that latent possibility of being transfigured into bread, if divine power is brought to bear upon them. Hope means seeing no situation, no injustice, no grief in life which God cannot transfigure for good. The opposite end of the scale from Hope is resignation of nihilism, which implies seeing the problems of life as having such a magnitude that nothing can transfigure good out of the evils which they manifestly contain. Hope is a variable throughout our lives. Sometimes, we are far closer to resignation than to hope, and when that happens, the balance shifts closer to despair.
L is for Love. The antithesis of a life motivated solely by love is a life motivated by the desire for personal power. A life dedicated to the quest for personal power is the opposite of a life of self-giving and, perhaps, even of self-sacrifice. Jesus, I think, knew that, as he considered what worldly power he could be able to take for himself. Unlike the scale which stretches between hope and resignation, the scale which stretches between love and power as motivating elements in life has one particular, appalling danger, and it is this – you do not have to drop far below holding the ideal of love as the only possible motivation for living before you can see only power, not only as the surest motivation for life, but also as the only way of guaranteeing your survival, both in body and mind. Very, very quickly, power corrupts your beliefs to the point where you may think that love is a nice idea, but that power is the only sure-fire way of getting things done. Love, as a motivating factor, is a variable throughout our lives. If we reach the point when we think that only power can solve problems and frustrations, the balance shifts further towards despair.
Why so?… you may say. Do the powerful despair? Well, yes – in a very subtle way they do, because in their life, they have actually failed. They have failed to make relationships out of the highest virtue – Love – and have settled for the solution of the loveless, which is coercion by sheer power. Power, in earthly terms, is brutal, however you dress it up in uniforms and businessmen's suits. The punk poet, Attila the Stockbroker, is very aptly named!
F is for Faith. The opposite end of the long scale, which stretches from the high Christian ideal of Faith, is Proof. A life that constantly demands proof, before decision or action, is a life without trust and without peace; peace either with oneself, or in fellowship or society with other people. Did Jesus actually go to the pinnacle of the Temple in body, or in his mind's eye? That point matters not, really. What does matter is that if, at that first hurdle, Jesus had demanded divine, unmistakable proof of the validity of his mission, then Gethsemane would have been impossible for him, and at Calvary, the darkness which surrounded him would have won. Sometimes, we are far closer to demanding proof than to living by faith than we would care to admit, and when that happens, the balance shifts further towards despair.
So far, you may say, nothing which you have said ties in with your declared text, that chilling assertion that temptation will come at a time opportune to evil, but at a time decidedly inopportune to the one who is being tempted.
Think of our statement in mathematical notation. Mathematics is a logical, considered, precise science. It has a sheer aesthetic beauty in its order, logic and precision [so I am told]. Even when it is operating "on the edge", it has a certain solid charm. I love the story of the events whose anniversary falls upon my birthday – December 2nd. On December 2nd, 1942, a team of physicists achieved the first sustained and controlled nuclear reaction with an atomic pile in a disused squash court at Chicago University. It is said, whether apocryphally or not, that the mathematician, Enrico Fermi, calculated the progress of the reaction, in his head, whilst the reaction was itself in progress. Now that may illustrate mathematics on the edge, but temptation, when it comes, is beyond the edge and lacks logic, predictability and consistency. Even its charm is deceptive. The timing of temptation is always inopportune and threatens, without warning, so to diminish our reserves of Hope, Faith and Love that despair may seem set to overwhelm us immediately and totally.
When, in John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress", Christian despaired even in the crossing of the waters on the very threshold of the eternal city, his despair was dispelled by two factors – a promise and a company. The first was a promise, from God himself, that God would always be with him, however deep the waters that threatened to sweep him to despair. The second was a company upon the journey. As Christian, he had not only God's presence, but that of fellow travellers upon the way. Where the promise seemed dim in his heart, the travelling companion sent by God was there. Where companions seemed few or far, the promise remained.
The great temptation in this life is to despair. Bunyan called it Giant Despair. So, before inopportune times come, before the wave breaks, before we fall to the temptations of resignation, personal power, or the demands for proof, let us anchor our souls upon God's promises and praise him for his gift of our travelling companions upon life's pilgrim way.