LEAD US (NOT) INTO TEMPTATION

Whenever we say The Lord’s Prayer, we ask the Lord to “lead us not into temptation.” I wonder: does God actually lead us into temptation, so much so that we have to ask God not to do so? As a child of God does God deliberately place us in tempting situations where we will, perhaps more likely than not, give into those temptations and sin? That would be akin to a parent placing a box of candy in front of a diabetic child and then walking away. No loving parent would do that. Would God, does God, do that to us?

I don’ think so; and yet we ask God not to do something which we believe God doesn’t do in the first place. What gives here? What is given is that we are born into a world where the temptation to do what we know we should not do bombards us every day. We can’t escape it and, all too often, we given into those temptations and say and do something very foolish, selfish and sinful.

What we are asking God to do is, when the world around us leads us into those tempting situations, to keep us mindful of what is happening and what can be the consequences of doing so and then giving us the grace and strength to not give in. If you are like me, we are almost always aware of what we being tempted to say or do. What we are not so much aware of is what the consequences will be when we give in to those temptations.

Those are the times of trial from which we ask God to save us, as the newer version of the Prayer has it. And they are indeed trying times. Why? Simply because giving in to every temptation, whatever that temptation may be, will give us immediate pleasure. And just the thought of that pleasure can be so overwhelming that any reflection about the hurtful results of our action is obscured.

There is no escape from temptation, not in this world and in this life anyway. It comes from free will. We always have choices. It is what we do with those choices that really matters. We know that. We have learned from past experience, from having given into a temptation to say or do that which was very pleasurable at the moment but, in the end, caused more pain and suffering than we even imagined.

The problem is that, for the most part, most of the temptations we give in to are not earth-shattering or life-changing. They cause pain but not enough. It is only when we say the Lord’s Prayer, slowly, deliberately, thoughtfully, that we become aware of the pain and suffering giving into the temptation to be selfish can cause to us and to those we love. But, if you are like me, too often whenever I say that prayer, the words come out of my mouth but my head and heart are somewhere else.

I think Jesus deliberately taught us that prayer to remind us of how consequential our words and actions are and on how much we need God’s grace and strength to always say and do what is right even if it is a difficult time of trial, which it often is.