Ver. 11. But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he possesses, unless he bless thee to thy face. 68. The elect make progress in temptation. — For often, while we fruitfully render the fruits of virtues, while we prevail with continual prosperity, the mind is somewhat lifted up, so that it may judge the good things it has to exist from itself. Which good things indeed the ancient enemy maliciously desires to lay hold of; but God permits these to be tempted only benignly, so that while the mind, at the pulsing of temptation, is shaken in the good things in which it rejoiced, having come to know the debility of its own weakness, it may be more robustly established in the hope of divine aid.
And it comes to pass by a wonderful dispensation of piety, that whence the malignant enemy tempts the heart in order to destroy it, thence the merciful Creator instructs it that it may live. Whence also it is well subjoined: