Certain Truths That Serve to Define the Scope of Non-Trust in Self and of Perfect Hope in God

Since all the strength by which our enemies are defeated is generated in us by non-trust in ourselves and hope in God, you must, my brother, furnish yourself with precise understanding of this so that with God’s help you may always carry and preserve such strength within yourself. Know firmly and surely that neither all the faculties and good qualities—whether natural or acquired—nor all the freely given gifts, nor knowledge of all Scripture, nor long service to God and the habit acquired in such service, nor all of these together will enable us to fulfill God’s will faithfully, if in each God-pleasing good deed that lies before us to accomplish, in each danger we seek to avoid, in each cross that we must bear according to the will of our God—if, I say, in all such and similar cases some particular help from God does not hearten our heart and give us strength for doing what is required, as the Lord said: ”Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5); so that throughout our entire life, every day and every minute, we are absolutely bound to keep in ourselves, unchanging, such a sense, conviction, and disposition of heart—that for no cause, for no thought, is it permissible for us to rely and trust in ourselves.

Regarding hope in God, to what I have already said in the third chapter add the following: know furthermore that there is nothing easier or simpler for God than to make you conquer your enemies, whether they be few or many, whether they be old and strong or new and weak. Yet for everything he has his own time and his own order. Therefore, let some soul be excessively burdened with sins—let it be guilty of all the transgressions of the world, let it be defiled to the utmost degree anyone could imagine, and let it have employed, to the extent it wished and was able, every means and every struggle to break free from sin and turn to the path of good, yet was never able to establish itself in anything required, even the smallest, but on the contrary plunged even deeper into evil—let it be such; yet even so, it must not by any means grow weak in its hope in God and turn away from him, must not abandon its spiritual weapons or struggles, but must fight—fight with itself and with its enemies with all courage and tirelessness. For know this: in this unseen warfare only he loses nothing who never ceases to struggle and to hope in God, whose help never departs from those who fight in his ranks, though he sometimes allows them to receive wounds as well. Therefore let each person fight on without yielding, for in this unyielding struggle is the whole matter. But God always has at the ready both healing for those struck by the enemy and help for striking the enemy in return, which he provides in due time to his fighters who seek him and place firm hope in him; at an unexpected hour they will see how their proud enemies vanish, as it is written: ”The mighty men of Babylon ceased fighting” (Jer. 51:30).