Good Morning Garden

Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).

Many earnest people feel that God could not lead anyone into temptation in any circumstances, and that Jesus could not have said what he is represented to have said, and so some other phrasing is sought more in accordance with the general tone of his teaching. All this, however, is unnecessary.

The facts are these—the more you pray, the more sensitive you become, and the more powerful are your prayers. But you also become susceptible to forms of temptation that simply do not beset those at an earlier stage. Subtle and powerful temptations await; temptations to work for self-glory, for personal distinction; temptation to personal preferences other than perfect impartiality. Beyond all other temptations the deadly sin of spiritual pride. Many who have surmounted all other testings have lapsed into self-righteousness that has fallen like a curtain of steel between them and God.

Some old writers were so vividly sensible of these dangers that they spoke of the soul as being challenged by various tests as its traversed the upward road. The traveler was halted at various turnpike bars, and tested by some ordeal to determine whether he were ready to advance any further. If he succeeded in passing the test he was allowed to continue upon his way with the blessing of the challenger.

Now, some less experienced souls, eager for rapid advancement, have rashly desired to be subjected immediately to all kinds of tests, and have even looked about, seeking for difficulties to overcome. Forgetting our Lord’s injunction Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Matthew 4:7), they have virtually challenged him to give them difficulties. And so Jesus has inserted this clause, in which we pray that we may not have to meet anything that is too much for us at the present level of our understanding.

The author finds that this phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is best understood when said with a pause. “Lead us…not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Once we begin to follow God’s will, we are sometimes blinded to spiritual vanity, pride and self-righteousness. This is like the athlete who thinks too highly of them self because God gave them physical ability. We are not to be proud or give ourselves any glory when God begins to work through us. Another danger is that spiritual pride and self-righteousness blinds us to our own weaknesses and faults so that we can not admit our wrongness and ask for forgiveness. In other words we can not be delivered from evil because we don’t recognize it in ourselves. The best way to escape this trap is to avoid it altogether by asking God to “lead us”.

Being led
Z gardener