“Lead us not into temptation”
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15)
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one that has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
This part of the prayer asks God to lead us and there is no one better to do that then the One who created us. The request, however, is more specific…”Don’t lead me into temptation”. Would God do that? Would he deliberately lead us into situations that “tempt” us? Without consulting the Scripture we can quickly draw up a view of God as someone who is constantly trying to sabatage us. “Maybe God put the tree in the garden to cause Adam and Eve to sin”, we might say.
However, when we look into God’s Word we find that God cannot be tempted and He does not tempt anyone. God does not try to cause you to sin…that is temptation. God does provide choices because He loves us. The choice is to follow His direction or to follow our own path. God also can “test” us like he did with Abraham (Genesis 22:1). But these situations are given to develop character or increase our faith… not to give opportunity to rebel against our Father.
The Scripture in James (above) states that we are tempted when we are “dragged away” by our own lusts and desires. To ask God not to lead us into temptation is to ask Him not to lead us into situations where we could be ensnared by our own sinful nature. It is asking God to protect us from the tempter who can take any situation and use it as an opportunity to bring us to sin.
Hebrews tells us that He has already been there and knows where the traps are hidden and, since He created you, He knows where your temptations lie. The fact is that He is the only one that can lead you through the mine field that sets before you today. He is the light for the path and He will guide you, but you must ask Him to,
“Lead me not into temptation”