The Lord's Prayer--Sixth Petition

Lead us not into temptation.

We don’t like to be tested. I’ve never met a student who enjoys final exams. I don’t know anyone who looks forward to taking a driver’s test. We don’t like taking tests because they are scary—there’s a chance that we might fail. In addition, many tests are hard—it often takes a lot of effort to score well on an exam.

But the hardest tests do not involve studying a textbook and writing out answers to questions. The hardest tests are those that we face as we go about living life. Over and over again, we are faced with decisions—decisions about what is right and what is wrong, decisions that force us to weigh potential rewards with possible consequences. And if you make the wrong choice, your blunder can haunt you for years--maybe even for the rest of your life.

Lead us not into temptation; these words can also be translated: "do not put us to the test." Temptation and test mean essentially the same thing—a situation in which we might either succeed or fail. In a way, almost everything in life is a temptation, a test. On Sunday morning you are faced with a test—you have the choice of going to church or staying in bed, the choice of living for God or living for yourself. The hour spent in church is a test; you have the choice to respect the Lord with your full attention, or to let your mind wander as you plan your noon meal or the afternoon’s activities. Food is a test—you can use it to nourish your body so that you can serve the Lord, or you can damage your health by eating poorly and thus limit your bodies’ ability to do works of service. Your job is a test; you can work to earn money to support your family and fund the ministry of the church, or you can work in order to clutter up your life with merchandise that only gives short-term pleasure. Your eyes test you; you can use them to read God’s Word, or you can use them to search the Internet for pornography. Your mouth tests you—you can use it to say hurtful things to others, or you can speak of Christ to those who drift through life lost because they do not know Him. Every day is a string of tests, of temptations.

Some of these tests are good—they are sent by God to build us up. Before it is sold, a rope is put through a stress test—this not only insures that the rope is fit for use, it actually makes the rope stronger. The wind can bend a tree back and forth, twisting the roots so that they loosen the soil, thus making it possible for the roots to shoot down even deeper. Successful testing brings the result of increased strength—and so we read in the Old Testament of people whom God tested in order to strengthen them. The Lord tested Abraham when He asked the patriarch to sacrifice his only son. The Lord tested Job with the loss of his goods, children, and health. In the New Testament, Jesus also tested the faith of those who followed Him. When He had finished speaking to a large crowd in the wilderness, He asked Philip "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do (John 6:5-6). Another test occurred when a Canaanite woman pleaded with Jesus to help her demon-possessed daughter. First, Jesus ignored her; then He told her that He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. When the woman persisted, Jesus finally told her "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." But the woman replied, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." At this, the Lord applauded her faith and granted her request (Matthew chapter 15).

The tests sent by God can be very demanding of us—but when we experience such trials, we must remember, "no pain, no gain." An athlete knows that strength and endurance only come about from exhausting, sometimes painful training—and the building up of our souls is no different. When God sends us trials to strengthen us, we should welcome them because it is one of the many ways by which our Lord shows His love and care for us.

But not all tests are sent by God; not all tests are intended for our benefit. When we pray lead us not into temptation, we are praying for the Lord’s protection from those tests designed to make us to fail—the tests designed by the Devil. We dare never try to blame God for our failures; speaking of the temptation to sin, James writes: 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 (James 1:13-14). God tests us to strengthen us, but He never sets us up to commit sin; in the Catechism Luther writes: "God surely tempts no one to sin, 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 or lead us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins."

Destructive temptations come from the Devil, the inherent sinful desires of our human bodies, and the influence of a world that largely ignores Christ and does whatever it wants. In the time of Noah, the Devil used the lust of human nature to convince society that religious faith was unimportant when it comes to matters of the heart; most believers saw no danger in marrying unbelievers, with the result that by the time of the Flood only eight people in the entire world still believed in the one, true God. In the time of Abraham, the Devil used the perversion of human nature to convince the residents of Sodom that homosexuality and rape were acceptable expressions of sexuality, with the result that when Abraham pleaded that God spare the city from destruction, not even ten righteous people could be found living there. In the time of the great prophets, the Devil used the weakness of human nature to convince the children of Israel that it doesn’t matter what god you worship, with the result that when hostile foreign empires attacked, God allowed the nation He had founded to be destroyed.

Temptations come in all shapes and sizes; just as you can find a weed in any kind of soil, so temptations arise in every kind of situation. Each of us is different; each of us has our own weaknesses that set us apart from others. We can look at another person’s situation and wonder why he gave into a temptation that appears easy to resist. Looking at his struggle from a safe distance, it is easy for us to be smug. "I would never do that," we think. But do you remember what Noah did after the Flood was over? This man of God spent 120 years building the Ark and telling everyone who came for a look about the need to repent before God came in judgment; but almost as soon as he was out of the Ark, he got himself good and drunk. Do you remember what Aaron did at the foot of Mt. Sinai? Moses’ brother had stood by his side as God used these men to bring ten plagues against Egypt, had walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, was fed daily by bread that God made from the morning dew, and was named High Priest for God’s people; but when they pressured him, he used the gold jewelry of the people to make an idol for them to worship instead of God. Do you remember what Peter did in the court of the High Priest? Jesus called this disciple "the Rock" because of his deep faith and strong convictions; yet when faced with the possibility of arrest, Peter denied that he even knew who Jesus was. This is why Paul warns us, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12) This is why Jesus taught us to pray, lead us not into temptation.

The problem is that sin always looks so inviting; every temptation offers some kind of pleasure. Sin holds out a promise, but either the promise is a lie, or there is an unseen consequence that ruins the offered pleasure. An example of the false promise is the mirage; in a desert, a thirsty man can see what appears to be water in the distance, but when he gets close he finds that it was only the blue sky reflecting off the hot, dry sand; the promise of a cool drink was only an illusion. An example of unseen consequences is the Judas Tree; it has beautiful yellow blossoms that are irresistible to bees, but the plant is poisonous and the ground beneath it is covered with the bodies of bees betrayed by a beauty that brought only death. Like the desert mirage and the Judas Tree, sin holds out promises that result in hell being littered with the souls of the foolish.

When we pray lead us not into temptation, we are asking God to lead us away from those places in life where Satan has set us up to fail. If alcohol has power over you, then by this prayer you are asking God to help you stay away from liquor stores. If your job causes you to come home sullen or short-tempered, then by this prayer you are asking God to lead you to a different line of work, so that you will not be tempted to take out your frustrations on your loved ones. Jesus is clear that we should give up whatever it takes to avoid being tempted: If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell (Matthew 5:29-30).

Giving in to temptation is like going down a hill. As you descend, you begin to speed up, but you welcome the increased pace because the wind in your face feels great, your speed makes you feel like you’re free, and there’s a thrill from the sense that you’re living a little dangerously. But as you get closer to the bottom, you’re moving so fast that you lose the ability to stop safely—and by the time that you reach the foot of the hill your recklessness is rewarded with blood. Playing around with temptation is like running down a hill—there comes a point where you can no longer stop.

We are not alone when we wrestle with spiritual tests. Our Lord is always looking out for us; in 1st Corinthians chapter ten we receive this wonderful promise: God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. In addition, He gives us strength through the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper--Luther writes: "There are so many hindrances and temptations of the devil and the world that we often grow weary and faint, at times even stumble. The Lord’s Supper is given as a daily food and sustenance, so that our faith may refresh and strengthen itself and not weaken in the struggle, but grow continually stronger."

Of course, we all fail our spiritual tests again and again; we let Satan make fools of us, and we disregard the Lord’s offer of help as unnecessary, sometimes even unwanted. We can be thankful that Jesus understands what we are going through; Hebrews chapter four assures us: we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Jesus understands how hard it is for us to hold out against temptation—He does not condone our weakness, but He understands it and loves us in spite of it. In fact, He was so concerned about our susceptibility to sin that He came to earth to live the perfect life His heavenly Father expected from each of us; He also accepted as His own our death sentence, which was God’s punishment for the many times we have failed to resist Satan’s temptations. This means that you can be forgiven—forgiven for flirting with sin instead of fleeing from it, forgiven for repeatedly doing the same foolish things without learning from your past mistakes.

Only Jesus can lead you away from the dark path of temptation and into the bright future of heaven; only His promises are everything that they appear to be. May you always heed the words of Jesus who told His disciples, Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41).