Thine...not mine | Lead us not into temptation

First, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Or, “The bread of ours for today or these days, give us today.”  We are declaring to our generous Father to give us this day, today, a measure of spiritual and bodily nourishment that might be equal to a day or two or three worth...  So we can be generous too.  Give us enough for ourselves and maybe some extra to give away!

Then, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Matthew 18 helped us here by pointing out that forgiveness is an issue of the heart.  In particular, the heart that has experienced forgiveness and really gets the fullness of what that forgiveness cost, that is the heart that is ready to forgive.  Forgive us of our debts in the same manner as we have forgiven others…and our lives will demonstrate this.

Now, “And lead us not into temptation.”

                …

Read that line again.

I wonder if you have ever wondered about that line in the prayer our Lord gave us.  What questions arise in your mind when you read or pray that?  You know what the question has been for me?  It’s this:  Is God’s intention to lead us into temptation such that we need here to pray against it?  Ever thought about that?

Read this verse with me:

  

That’s from James 1:13.  Seems pretty clear that God has no intention of leading us into temptation.  If you turn to James and read on, the verses that follow (vs. 14-15) tell us that we do just fine leading ourselves into temptation.  Being tempted is something I’ve never had to work hard at achieving.

Nope, our Father is not interested in leading us into temptation.  But He is interested in leading us…   

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14

Here is Jesus Christ, returning from Calvary’s battle, a victor over sin and death.  Our Father is interested in leading us, His children, not into temptation; not in defeated processions toward battles already lost.  Rather, He is interested in leading us, aligned in victorious celebration, out of sin’s battles already won; each one blazing a fragrant trail of the knowledge of Christ and His love. 

You’ll recall the well known Psalm 23…

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.”

Here is David, reflecting on seasons of life lived as a shepherd in the hills and pastures and boundless territories beyond.  Our Father is interested in leading us, His sheep, not into temptation; not in paths of iniquity near tumultuous waters that rough up our souls.  Rather, He is interested in leading us in paths of peace and routes of righteousness, which restore our roughed up souls for the sake of His Name; the very essence of who He most fully is to us.

Remember the great exodus out of Egypt…

“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.” – Exodus 15:13

Here is Moses, along with a mass of frightened Israelites, on the safe shore of the Red Sea with a whole slew of Egyptian folks buried under the watery billows behind them.  Our Father is interested in leading us, His redeemed, not into temptation; not into a land of sinful lure like Egypt.  Rather, He is interested in leading us out of it, by His strength and steady love, toward a “holy abode,” a set apart land with righteous appeal.   

Perhaps you can see the thrust of this one line in our prayer now?  It is not so much about the “temptation” as it is about the “leading.”  When we come to this line in our prayer, we declare…

When we come to this line in our prayer, we are appealing to our Father’s leading and guidance.  Mostly because our own leading and guidance has all too often left us stranded and strangled by temptation and sin.  We are people in desperate need of His guidance, not our own.  We screw things up.  We lead ourselves into temptation.  He leads us not into temptation.

In certain respects, it feels like the most natural place to go with our prayer to the Father after finding His forgiveness for our sin, for those times when we allowed our own evil desires to grip us and drag us away into temptation.  Now we want to pray that the Father guide us into victory and righteousness and all that is holy.  We want to pray that He work in us deeply so that we’re not making decisions that lead to sin, but rather our deepest desire would be His deepest desire…righteous paths of victorious living!

 “And lead us not into temptation.”

Lead us not into the wilderness of the wicked,

where evil lurks and spies to overtake us. 

Lead us not into the wild loneliness of arid lands;

parched property ruled by the prince of the world.

Lead us not into the bondage of borderless living. 

Lead us not into traps of pride and idolatry.

Lead us instead in triumphal procession,

on paths of righteousness,

toward your holy dwelling place.

Now try this:  Take time to reflect a bit.  These questions…

·         Where in your life does this prayer come to life? 

·         When do you need this prayer? 

·         What do you imagine when you hear words like victory and righteousness and holy abode? 

·         Do those mean anything to you in your spiritual journey?

·         How will they compel you to pray differently?