April 27, 2016
The Lord’s Prayer

What does this mean?–Answer.
God, indeed, tempts no one; but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair, and other great shame and vice; and though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally overcome and gain the victory.” (Small Catechism)

“And lead us not into temptation.” This also is found in the Jewish morning prayer: “Never should a man bring himself into temptation as David did, saying, ‘Examine me, O Lord, and prove me’ [Psalm 26: 2], and stumbled” And as sin is the work of Satan there comes the final prayer, “But deliver us from the evil one.” (LORD’S PRAYER, THE: By: Kaufmann Kohler)

There is another sense in which we are to plead with God not to lead us into temptation. The word “temptation” can also refer to trials. We know from 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will not test us beyond our ability to bear and will always provide a way out. But He sometimes subjects us to trials that may expose us to Satan’s assaults for His own purposes, as in the case of Job and Peter (Luke 22:31-32). If this is the meaning here, as it may be, then the meaning of the prayer is, “Do not afflict or try us.” It is not wrong to pray that we may be delivered from trials and suffering, as long as we submit ourselves to the will of God, no matter what it is. The believer can rightly ask to be delivered from this type of testing as well as asking for the strength to endure it if it does come.

In both senses, whether asking for God to lead us away from sin or from difficult trials, the goal is found in the second part of verse 13: “deliver us from evil.” A petition similar to this is offered by David in Psalm 141:4: “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with the workers of iniquity.” In all things, God is our deliverer and we are to pray to Him as such. (unknown online source)

We should always be seeking direction from G-d – direction for doing G-d’s will, and direction for staying away from sins like coveting, like stealing, and lying. It is one thing to trust that G-d will give us the strength to endure difficult times; it is another to constantly pray that G-d will guide us away from the sins that are so common in this life.

Think about the temptations that assault us each and every day. We are constantly being told that we deserve more, that we should be seeking an easier life, and that we should be looking out only for ourselves. These are temptations that go against the Christian life. Being a Christian does not guarantee us an easy life. And why does anyone deserve an easy life, or deserve anything? That may sound harsh to you, but we have too many people who have been raised or brainwashed into thinking this is the “American Way”. It used to be that the Christian way was what the “American Way” was modeled upon, but that is not true anymore. Being a Christian now is to be a part of a counter-cultural movement. To be a Christian is to live as Christ prayed: we are in the world but not of the world.

But, we all need a guide that will assist in keeping us away from temptation and will sustain us throughout the journey as temptations assail us. And so we pray that the Father will not “lead us into temptation” but will lead us “away from temptation”. We cannot do it ourselves – we need support of G-d and a faith community, we need the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit, and we need the teachings of Jesus to help us see through the temptations.

Pastor Dave