Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In Jesus’ model prayer, these words come immediately after the plea to “forgive us our debts” (Matthew 6:12, 13). As soon as we have by faith grasped the forgiveness purchased for us by the death of our Saviour, we need these words. As soon as justification with the peace and sense of relief from the burden of guilt that accompanies it has entered the soul, we are to make this request. Having obtained justification, we must immediately pray to retain justification, and in order “to retain justification, there must be continual obedience.”1

Continual obedience is in jeopardy in times of temptation and trial. Hence Christ has bidden us pray these words.

What does, “Lead us not into temptation,” mean? Does God lead us into temptation? Do we need to plead for Him to refrain from doing so? Should we expect God to remove all temptation from us in answer to this prayer?

The Greek word peirasmos, which in Matthew 6:13 is translated “temptation,” is in other places in Scripture translated “test,” “trial,” or “prove.” Inspiration is clear that God tests, or proves, the loyalty of His people. How does He do this? After He had spoken the Ten Commandments from Mt. Sinai, Moses told Israel, “Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not” (Exodus 20:20). God tests us by giving us His law, the standard of His righteousness. “The law is the great standard of righteousness. It represents the character of God and is the test of our loyalty to His government.”2

In the first chapter of the epistle of James, we are taught what our attitude should be towards temptations, and what is the source of temptation: “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. . . . Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:2–4, 12). Having given His law as a test, God “permits us to encounter obstacles, persecution, and hardships, not as a curse, but as the greatest blessing of our lives. Every temptation resisted, every trial bravely borne, gives us a new experience and advances us in the work of character building.”3 On the other hand, Satan exploits these times in our experience. “Whenever one is encompassed with clouds, perplexed by circumstances, or afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan is at hand to tempt and annoy. He attacks our weak points of character. He seeks to shake our confidence in God, who suffers such a condition of things to exist. We are tempted to distrust God, to question His love.”4 So James advises further, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:13, 14).

Our Father has given us His law as a test of our loyalty, but He never tempts us to sin. “Temptation is enticement to sin, and this does not proceed from God, but from Satan and from the evil of our own hearts.”5

The process is clear in the very first temptation of our race.

STEP 1: God set the standard —“Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it” (Genesis 2:17).

STEP 2: “Eve had wandered near the forbidden tree, and her curiosity was aroused.”6

STEP 3: Satan tempted her and she yielded.

When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we cannot expect that God will change His standard. We should not expect that all temptations and difficulties will suddenly evaporate. Instead, this is a prayer of surrender “to the guidance of God, asking Him to lead us in safe paths.”7 It is a prayer asking Divine help so that we do not perversely wander toward temptation. Then, having surrendered ourselves to God’s leading, we pray, “… but deliver us from evil.” We claim the promise that He “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus knew His betrayal and death would be an overwhelming trial to His disciples. He knew it would cause them all to be offended (meaning ensnared, or tripped up). The evening before His crucifixion, Jesus said, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Jesus was not proposing that they pray for the removal of the coming test. He Himself was agonizing as He submitted in prayer to those events. The problem was with their flesh, with their unwillingness to relinquish their own expectations regarding Christ’s kingdom. It was with their unwillingness to submit to the Divine will for the establishment of His kingdom. This is what they were to wrestle with and surrender in prayer.

When we look back over the many times we have been tempted and sinned, like Adam and Eve before us, we have often blamed God. We too often ask, “Why did You lead me into temptation?” as though He had somehow let us down. In reality, those temptations were opportunities for us to prove our loyalty to Him, and we failed Him. It was we who betrayed Him; He never betrayed us. God help us henceforth to pray “Lead me not into temptation.” Let this prayer be a surrender of our will to His, rather than in expectation that He will give us a smooth, easy path to heaven.