Man could have lived in complete ease, without being exposed to sin or to temptation. But in that, the depth of the human being would not appear, nor would his true nature be known. So God allowed temptations, which all the saints were exposed to, and from them they gained spiritual experiences. Therefore I will speak to you about:
Temptations and Spiritual Experiences

Adam lived with the Lord in Paradise in a life of righteousness, but his will had to be tested—whether he would remain steadfast in righteousness or not. Adam was tested and fell. He tasted the bitterness of sin and of being distanced from God. This was the first experience of the results of sin. Nevertheless, Adam received a blessing from this temptation, for his nature after redemption and after the resurrection would be better—a luminous spiritual nature, clothed with righteousness and not falling…
And we did not hear that Adam—after his fall—fell again.

Every temptation has its blessings and its experiences. And were it not so, God would not have allowed it. What is important is that the human being senses these blessings and seizes them…

David the Prophet lived in his early life a quiet life of prayer, hymns, and contemplation, with the harp, the lyre, and the ten strings… And until then, David’s purity had not yet been tested. His spiritual experiences were limited to a certain scope. Then he was tested and he fell…

In his fall he came to know the weakness of his nature, and he entered into a life of contrition and tears, into a life of humiliation, and felt that he was “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” His tears became his food day and night. He gained humility and meekness…

And in the humility of his heart, his life rose spiritually… His humility appeared when Shimei son of Gera cursed him with harsh insults while he was king. He said, “The Lord has said to him: Curse David.”… And we never heard that David repeated that sin again, for he tasted its humiliation.

Often God sees that the most beautiful thing a person can gain is humility, so He allows him to fall, that he may become humble and know his weakness.

And when a person knows his weakness, he enters into a life of watchfulness and precision.
He knows his weakness, and knows that sin “has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong,” so he becomes cautious and precise, keeping away from stumbling blocks and from every source of sin. And through humility and watchfulness, his heart is purified.

Saint Theodore erred when he accepted leadership during the illness of his teacher Saint Pachomius, so his father removed him from all responsibilities… In his removal, his heart became humble, and he felt that all the affairs of the monastery were running well without him… As Saint Pachomius said about him, “Theodore benefited spiritually in the two years of his removal and confinement more than he benefited in all his life.”

In everything that happens to you, try to benefit spiritually, to grow, to increase in the knowledge of God, to increase in the knowledge of yourself, to increase in the knowledge of the spiritual path, of the wars of the devils and their tricks, and the ways to resist them, and to increase in humility and contrition of heart.

Let us take the Apostle Peter as an example: before the test he thought himself to be something. “Even if all deny You, I will not deny You.” “Even if it leads to my death with You.”… A sense of self, of strength, of superiority over others. A feeling that he was able to conquer by himself, by his will, by his personal purity… Peter entered the temptation and fell and denied, and knew his weakness, and wept bitterly. And his weeping washed him from the sense of self and superiority…

Many temptations the Lord sends us so that we may know our weakness. Before the temptation, a person does not understand himself nor his abilities nor the extent of his endurance in facing battles. So the Lord brings him into the practical realm…

Through temptations you will know that your present purity and your not falling is due to the grace that preserves you, not your personal strength.
It is not due to your ability to resist. For were it not that the Lord’s right hand upheld you, you would have been like those who go down to the pit. And if you think that you have reached a certain level, or that a certain sin cannot overcome you, then you are ignorant of yourself, ignorant of sin, and ignorant of the devil.

And God says to you, “Do not be high-minded.” Then He lifts His hand from you, and a simple sin presses upon you and you fall, and He says to you, “If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?”
Humble yourself, for humility preserves your soul.

Many sins you have not fallen into simply because you have not yet been tested by them…
You say, “But I have been tested and succeeded.” I say to you, “It is possible that you were not tested with severity and violence. Or it is possible that you were tested severely, but God fought on your behalf.”

All those who were tested gained spiritual experience and understood life more than others. They became more compassionate toward those who fall.

Jacob the patriarch was gentle and quiet and kind, and God loved him before he was born. He entered temptation and fell: he deceived his father and lied. Then he entered another experience.
He experienced God’s punishment and along with it God’s love mixed with punishment…

He experienced wandering, fear, fleeing, his uncle Laban’s deceit, and his sons’ deceit, and he experienced tears and sorrow, and said, “The days of my sojourning on earth are few and evil.” And in the midst of these chastisements he experienced the love of God who appeared to him, granted him blessing and promises, wrestled with him and strengthened him, preserved him and returned him to that land—the God whom you say to in the hymn:
“O Mighty One holding the whip in Your hand, while love makes Your tears flow.”

He did not experience God only in the sweetness of His love, but also in the sweetness of His chastisement… How God strikes while in the depth of love; how He wounds and heals, withholds and grants…

David also experienced the sweetness of God in distress. God allowed King Saul to pursue him, embitter his life, and seek to kill him in every way. But in all these distresses he saw the face of God… He would say, “Lord, why have those who trouble me increased? Many have risen against me. Many say to my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in his God.’” And at the same time he says, “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy mountain.”

The children of God, whenever they enter temptations, experience God, taste His sweetness, and see the hand of God in events and in hardship…

Moses the Prophet experienced the hand of God before the Red Sea. At the time when all had despaired and the enemy was pursuing them, Moses saw the hand of God. He said, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”… And God made a way in the sea…

Those who experienced distress only, without experiencing divine help, are people who did not open their eyes well enough to see God.
Like Gehazi: he saw only the forces of the enemies and did not see the divine help. So Elisha cried out for him saying, “Lord, open the eyes of the young man that he may see that those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Distress exists, and divine help exists—there are the armies of the enemies and the armies of the Lord, the Red Sea and the rod of Moses, the enemy with all his strength and the Lord with all His care and protection… The hand of God works quietly amid the hardships.

How wondrous is the experience: “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

I, O Lord, possess no strength to defend myself. I am too weak to fight even the least of them. Many say to my soul that there is no salvation for him in his God. Yet I will stand and behold the salvation of the Lord… And how is this? “Because of the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy, now I will arise,” says the Lord, “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
Yes, “Arise, O Lord God, and let all Your enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Your holy name flee before Your face.”…

Those who entered distress experienced You, and he who does not want distress does not want to experience You nor taste Your sweetness!!

Bring, O Lord, the distress. Yes, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world,” and I will overcome it whenever it fights you…

Blessed are You, O Lord. We will stand and wait for Your salvation. And the angels will chant, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed”—which is You.

Had the three young men not been cast into the blazing furnace, they would not have seen the Lord walking with them, nor would He have allowed the power of fire to harm them, just as He did not allow the lions to harm Daniel.
It is an experience—to test the Lord walking with you in the midst of fire…

The king and his soldiers stoke the fire and increase its wood, but the God of the fire and the wood, the God of the king and the soldiers, walks with you and controls the nature of the fire.
As the nature of the fire could not overpower the three young men, likewise the wild nature of the lions could not overpower Daniel… And what else?

Another spiritual experience Joseph the Righteous had: how God allows evil to work, then turns evil into good.
Joseph entered the experience of prison, the experience of slavery, the experience of his brothers’ betrayal, and the experience of his master’s wife’s treachery… Then he experienced how the hand of God intervened in events, turning evil into good.

Elijah the Prophet experienced how God sustained him during famine… Sustained him with a raven that brought him daily food, and with a widow who possessed only a handful of flour and a little oil… Not through richness nor strength, but through the working hand of God, lest he think that the human arm saved him in time of famine… Similar to this is what God did with saints who were falsely accused, and God stood by them and revealed their innocence—such as Saint Athanasius the Apostolic and Saint Macarius the Great. God defended them while they were silent…

We have seen how the saints passed through experiences of sin, experiences of distress, and tasted God’s work with them. There is another experience: the experience of obedience before a command that is difficult to execute…

Abraham the patriarch passed through this experience, when the Lord said to him, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and offer him to Me as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you.”
A difficult command, seemingly above nature, seemingly harder than entering fire or descending into a den of lions… Yet Abraham passed through it with obedience and faith, and experienced how God was more compassionate toward his son than he was, and how his son returned safely.

Therefore, in all your path with the Lord, say to Him:
What is the spiritual experience You want me to gain from this matter? I will experience life with You—I will experience the sweet and the bitter. I will experience the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Garden of Gethsemane and the hill of Golgotha. I will experience the den of lions, Joseph’s prison, the fiery furnace, and the belly of the whale… And from all this I will come out with a spiritual experience with You.

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1. Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year 8 – Issue 30 (29-7-1977)

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