Lead Us Not Into Temptation - Attaching to Our Father Through the Lord's Prayer

“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.’” (Matthew 6:9-13, ESV)

This part of the Lord’s Prayer can feel a little strange. For one thing, it seems to suggest that our Father might lead us into temptation if we don’t ask him not to. And we know from the verses you’ll read today that God doesn’t tempt us. So what is Jesus getting at when he invites us to ask our Father not to lead us into temptation? And why does he save this for last, when it’s often where we want to start?

Jesus puts this last so that we have time:

• to remember who our Father is (the one repairing ruptures),
• to remember what is most important (our physical needs in the present), and
• to remember who is most important (our relationships needing repair).

Only after remembering these things in prayer should we then seek God’s leading.

Because the phrase “Lead us not into temptation” can be confusing, commentator Frederick Dale Bruner translates this as “Don’t let us be led into any temptation.”

It isn’t God who leads us into temptation. It’s us.

We lead ourselves into difficult situations, allow unhealthy influences, ruminate on dark thoughts, and give in to our semi-automatic reactions to situations. We don’t even consciously choose these reactions! Instead, they are often survival strategies that got us through life many years ago when we needed them but no longer work well.

Other times, we just don’t have the energy to try to choose a reaction because sadness and depression is just oozing all around us. We don’t choose it. It finds us.

So Jesus tells us to ask for protection.

Protection from:

• our tendency to wander into bad places;
• our impulses toward self-destructive behaviors;
• our compulsive reactions and repetitions; and
• the depressed hormone levels, the autoimmune disorders, the deficient neurotransmitters, and the implicit memories keeping us from who God created us to be.

When we are protected, we can begin to learn new ways and move away from reacting to the ruptures in our life and responding to the life the Father is making possible for all people.

AS YOU PRAY…

Today, as you pray the way Jesus taught us, think about:

• The common temptations that you face throughout the day. What situations, relationships, or things often trip you up? Bring those to our Father for help. Ask for new insights about these things.
• Your semi-automatic reactions that often lead you in life (Do you fight? Do you flee? Do you fawn?). Ask our Father for ways to help you move from reacting out of ruptures to responding toward repair.

SCRIPTURE PASSAGES:

• 1 Corinthians 10:12-13
• James 1:12-15