ON PRAYER (9)
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…” —Matthew 6:13
When this clause is uttered, not in vain repetition, but in genuine prayer, at least two things will be involved. The first is recognition of the spiritual vulnerability of our fallen nature. The second will be an awareness of the subtlety and power of power of our adversary, whose aim is to take advantage of our fallen state and undermine our capacity to do the will of God. If a believer’s prayer is, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” then his aim will be to see God’s will fulfilled at least in his own life. To the extent that is achieved in our lives, God is glorified in us.
“Temptation,” as used in scripture, seems to have a two-fold significance. First, it is solicitation to moral evil. That is the most common idea, and the one with which we are most familiar. With respect to this, the Holy Spirit assures us through the apostle James that it does not come from God:
“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. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
[Jas. 1:13-15]
The other aspect of the term is the idea of “testing” or trials. This,it seems to me, is the import of the apostle’s statement,
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who 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.” [I Cor. 10:13]
Meaningful engagement in this prayer will indicate our awareness of our frailty and need of divine support in the the face of life’s temptations and trials, and an awareness of the presence and power of the adversary whose aim it is to hinder our obedience to God, whether by discouragement or defeat, and against whom we are no match on our own. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places [Eph. 6:12].”
We desperately need not only daily bread, but daily deliverance from the various subtleties or onslaught of Satan, if we are to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are God’s (I Cor. 6:20). Victorious Christian living is not a “do-it-your-self” enterprise, and it is here that the believer’s prayer life is most important. “He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust [Psalm 103:14].” It will be a good thing if we remember that too, and do not take Him and His grace for granted. We need daily to petition Him for power to be “overcomers” in the battle. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall [I Cor. 10:12] ”
There is a fine illustration in the Old Testament of God’s inclination to answer this prayer. “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt [Ex. 13:17-18].” The analogy, of course, is to our deliverance from bondage to Satan. God is willing and able to lead us in “the good and the right way,” and “deliver us from (the) evil,” but in affording us this model prayer the Savior indicates that it behooves us to ask Him to do so—daily!
Those who fail so to pray betray their ignorance of God, of themselves and of the adversary. Or, their indifference toccward “the high call ing of God in Christ Jesus.” (Cf. Phil. 3:14)
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” —II Pet. 2:9
“Lord, teach us to pray!”
"Pastor" Frasier
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