February 12
“And lead us not into temptation.”
In order to understand the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we must remember that “temptation” has a twofold meaning. The word “temptation” may refer to attempts made by the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh to think, desire, say, or do something that is evil and sinful. The devil tempted Eve and Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit and to disobey God. David’s sinful flesh tempted him to commit adultery and murder. The devil also tempted Jesus. He tempted Judas to betray Jesus, and he moved Judas to despair and hang himself. He tempted the apostle Peter to deny Jesus. God does not tempt anyone to do or say anything that is evil or that will result in evil.
James wrote, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed,” James 1:13-14.
On the other hand, the word “temptation” may refer to putting a person to a test for the purpose of testing or strengthening a person’s faith. In this sense, God tempts people for good. For example, the Lord tempted Abraham when He told him to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice his son, Isaac. Remember that Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when God finally gave them a son. God promised Abraham, “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him,” Genesis 17:19. Since God promised that Isaac would have descendants, Isaac would have to live, get married, and have a family. Then why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? God was tempting – testing – Abraham to strengthen his faith.
What did Abraham expect to take place? The answer is given in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead,” Hebrews 11:17-19. Abraham’s faith made him willing to sacrifice Isaac, and then he would see Isaac being raised from the dead, because he had to live to have descendants, one of whom would be Jesus, the promised Savior of the world. Faith in Jesus as the Savior from sin, death, and hell, and faith in the resurrection of the body, has been the faith of God’s children in every generation.
When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we are asking God to guard and keep us so that temptation to evil may not come to us, and that He would strengthen our faith and keep us in the faith when He permits temptation to come. Here is God’s promise: “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it,” 1 Corinthians 10:13.
We pray: Dear God, when You test our faith, strengthen us to be victorious, and may Your name be praised. When we are tempted to think, to desire, to say, and to do evil, strengthen our faith to resist the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. In Jesus’ name. Amen.