Monday, January 16, 2006
Drawn Away by Desire
“Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. . . . ” —Matthew 6:13
We have all seen the bumper sticker that reads, “Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself.” Jesus knew that we are easily tempted, so He taught us to pray, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one… ” (Matthew 6:13).
Now what does this actually mean? Is this implying that God would indeed lead us into a situation in which we would be tempted? Or worse yet, that God himself would tempt us? Certainly not. God does not tempt us. As the Bible says,
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)
In this petition from the Lord’s Prayer, we are asking God to guide us so we will not get out of His will and place ourselves in the way of temptation. We are essentially praying, “Lord, don’t let me be tempted above my capacity to resist. Lord, give me common sense. Help me to see the pitfalls. Help me to see the traps. Help me to see the areas in which I can be vulnerable and help me, Lord, to avoid them.”
When we pray like this, God will be faithful to help us escape temptation.
Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions,
More by Greg Laurie: http://www.harvest.org/devotional/index.php/5.html