Lead Us Not Into Temptation

One

The Strangeness of the Prayer

Probably the strangest part of the Our Father is when Jesus instructs us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation”

What can that possibly mean? Why on earth would we ask God not to lead us into temptation? Satan is the tempter, God isn’t. And yet…somehow there must be a sense in which God can lead us into temptation. There must be a sense in which it makes sense for us to ask Him not to.

Two

God Won’t Tempt us but Must Allow us to be Tempted

St. James reassures us that it isn’t God who tempts us. He writes, “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself tempts no one” (James 1:13).

God won’t urge us to sin because God doesn’t want us to sin. But here’s something interesting about the word “temptation” in the Bible: it can also be translated as “testing”. A temptation is always a kind of trial or a kind of testing.

Now have you ever thought about this: if you don’t ever get tested, how can anyone ever know your level of competence, or your quality, or your character? In fact, if you don’t ever get tested, how can you know your level of competence, or your quality, or your character? The truth is, you can’t. The book of Sirach says it explicitly, “He who has not been tried, what does he know?” (34:11)

So God has to allow us to be tempted. Otherwise, how can we ever be tested? How can we prove that we will choose goodness over evil, love over selfishness if we only experience the draw to the one and not the other?

This is how God stands relative to temptation. He will not tempt us, but He will allow us to be tempted, for our own sake. So that we can know who we are. But then, that still leaves us with the question: if we know God definitely won’t tempt us, and definitely what exactly are we praying for when we pray, “lead us not into temptation”? 

Three

Arrange for Situations Suited to Doing Well on our Test

You know how some parents will hire a coach to prepare their kid to take the SAT or some other college entrance test? Ideally, that coach will find out where the kid needs to improve and assign a bunch of exercises or smaller tests to get the kid ready for the big test. Now that’s exactly what God is trying to do with us all the time. There’s a big test coming up on the day of our death. God is sending us a bunch of exercises, a bunch of quizzes every day. He’s the supreme coach, which means he knows exactly what we can handle. He knows just how much we can be tested or tempted without failing. That’s why St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “God will not let you be tempted beyond your strength” (I Cor. 10:13). 

The key is to tackle the tests He sends us every day. Not to say, “I can’t handle this.” If God has sent you a trial, a test, a temptation, it’s because He’s decided that you can handle it. And not to go looking for temptation. Not to go looking for trouble, or tribulation. Not to needlessly put yourself in the way of temptation. If God hasn’t sent you that test, it’s probably because you can’t handle it. 

And remember, temptation sometimes comes from suffering, and sometimes from prosperity. If God hasn’t sent you suffering, it’s probably because He knows you can’t handle the temptation to discouragement and despair, or the temptation to escape from your suffering by immoral means. If God hasn’t sent you prosperity, it’s probably because He knows you can’t handle the temptation to pride and worldliness and complacency and sloth.

So the key is: trust His timing and just tackle today’s test. Ask Him to keep us out of any temptation, any test, we aren’t ready for.

Four

Knowing Our Weakness – Avoiding Overconfidence

So this is what “Lead us not into temptation” means. It doesn’t mean that God will directly lead us into temptation we can’t handle. But because God respects our free will, He will permit us to rush headlong into something we’re not ready for yet.

So when we say, “Lead us not into temptation,” we say, “Dear Father, don’t lead us into temptations we’re not ready for. Don’t lead us into temptation by letting us throw ourselves into tests we can’t handle.”

Remember when Peter was so confident that he was ready to face death with Jesus? But then it turned out that, actually, he wasn’t ready. Jesus had warned him and all the apostles. Jesus had said, “Pray that you not be put to the test” and “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Luke 22:40 and Mark 14:38).

Anyone who trusts their own self-assessment in the time of testing, in the time of temptation, is headed for failure.  “Let him who thinks he will stand watch, lest he fall.” 

As Raissa Maritain says, “Lead us not into temptation” is the prayer of a weak person who prays not to be weak today. We trust the Lord when temptation comes. But in the meantime, we know that we aren’t better than Peter. We need to avoid near occasion of sin, we need to avoid temptation unless God ordains that it’s inescapable. Then we will trust in His grace and His providence.

Five

Avoiding Near Occasion

Oscar Wilde once said, “I can resist anything, except for temptation.” And actually, that’s true of most of us most of the time. 

So we ask the Lord to deliver us from temptation, but we also watch ourselves and make sure we’re doing our part to come through whatever temptation He sends. If things are going well, then we have to avoid the temptation to complacency and worldliness. For instance, by doing penance and remembering our sins. If things are going badly, then we have to avoid the temptation to despair and self-pity. For instance, by constantly thanking God for all His generosity.

The coach is in charge of training us for the big test, the test administered on judgment day. But the students also have to put in their work of trying to pass the little quizzes God sends every day since, of course, that’s how we learn.

“Lead us not into temptation.” Do not put us to the test. Heavenly Father, we trust you to train us for the time of testing, for the time of trial. But don’t let us trust ourselves. Don’t let us become overconfident and blow it. Help us work hard, humbly, so that when the tests and temptations come, as they inevitably will, your preparation and your grace will see us through.