Rather Than Yield to Temptation...

There's an old bumper sticker: Lead me not into temptation: I can find it myself. What expert navigators we can be at times! Many of us are familiar with the part of the Our Father which asks of the Lord, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13); but how many of us really know what we are asking of Him? How many of us share the same sentiment as that bumper sticker: Why would God lead me into temptation? I am pretty adept at finding sin all on my own. And if James 1:13 clearly states that God cannot be tempted, nor does He tempt any person, why would He lead us to a place of temptation? Isn't that the same thing as someone setting up another to be robbed? Both are guilty of the crime, aren't they?

First of all, let me just share what an incredible statement of helplessness this request is. Sometimes we are going about our day, doing the same things we are accustomed to doing --sort of mindlessly, I must say --and we find ourselves in a traffic jam that isn't usually present. What is this all about? We didn't know it was before us. We had no way of knowing. Sometimes the same is true of the temptations that face us. We have no idea that someone is going to do something so out of character or so offensive we feel compelled to respond in an equally out of character or offensive way. We are tempted. We didn't see it coming. We didn't put ourselves in that predicament; we were simply going about our day as we usually do. But our Shepherd, who knows the end from the beginning, was well aware of it all. And, not that He was intentionally provoking us to yield to our flesh, but we can rely on Him to know the way. This is our admission that we don't know what will befall us throughout the most mundane of days, but, Dear Jesus, we rely on You to know the way. We yield our path and our activities to Your great wisdom.

Secondly, the Greek word rendered "temptation" is peirasmos which means both an allurement and a trial or test. So, in asking God not to lead us into temptation, and enticement that would dishonor Him and potentially cause us harm, we are not asking Him to suspend some regular activity (for, again, He tempts no man), but we are asking Him to lead us in the ways that would bring Him glory alone. We no longer want to walk the way we used to walk, in ways that made us susceptible to sin; in ignorance and independence; in foolishness. Lead me, Lord God, in Your ways and not in the way I used to walk. Lead me as I choose to avoid those things to which I was once drawn. 

And, in asking God not to lead us into peirasmos, trial or testing, we are making our petition for His mercy. Imagine waking up, your head pounding, your body aching; you've come down with the flu, but you have determined to power through it. You have errands to run and things that must be accomplished. As you go out to start your car, you miss a step; you hear a SNAP! and your ankle begins to swell immediately. You will have your rest, but you've surrendered to it the hard way. Which of us would not rather learn a lesson or have their faith strengthened by obedience to the Scriptures rather than enduring a long and painful proving. The key here, of course, is that we must learn our lesson in ways that do not require some hard discipline from our Heavenly Father. Father God, I surrender to learning all You have for me without necessitating the use of great trial. Please spare me this and soften my heart to receive Your teachings.

Do we know the way to temptation? By all means, we do. But God, in His great mercy, through Jesus Christ, has not only opened the way of communication through which we petition His guidance and mercy, but has Himself become the way by which we can endure whatever should befall us, our Deliverer. It is through Him and by Him our hearts are prepared to receive His words, and our lives are changed to reflect the integrity and strength of Jesus' character. By the power of His Holy Spirit, we yield to imitate His holiness rather than yield to temptation.