LUKE 11 "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say:

Thanks for reminding us of this great prayer.

We know fromJames 1:13that God does not tempt us to sin. If God did tempt us to sin, He would be acting contrary to His holy nature, against His desire for us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16), and against all other commandments in Scripture that tell us to avoid sin and flee temptation. In the Lord’s model prayer (Matthew 6:9–13), Jesus says, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (verse 13). The inclusion of a request for God not to lead us into temptation teaches us thatavoiding temptationshould be one of the primary concerns of the Christian life.

The idea of God leading His people is a main theme of Scripture. The book of Psalms especially is filled with pleas for God to lead us in His ways (Psalm 5:8;27:11), by His truth and righteousness, and in “the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:24). Along with leading ustowardgood, we understand that we are asking God to lead usaway fromevil. The petition in theLord’s Prayernot to be led into temptation reflects the believer’s desire to avoid the dangers of sin altogether. This phrase, then, must be understood in the sense of “permitting.” Jesus taught us to pray, “Do not ‘allow’ us, or ‘permit’ us, to be tempted to sin.”The believer can rightly ask to be delivered from testing as well as ask for the strength to endure it if it does come.