Day 23: Not Into Temptation
One of the most beautiful things to me about Jesus is that He not only knows about us, but He knows us intimately. The author of Hebrews writes, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb. 4:15-16).”
Our Lord is not a far-off entity that does not understand or does not want to know us. Rather, our Messiah is one who has come, taken on flesh, experienced the ups and downs of human life, knows our triumphs and pains, knows our struggle and our overcoming, and can empathize with us as He encountered and knows our weaknesses. In this, we recognize that Jesus is not just exampling for us how to pray, but how to trust and live in the leadership of His Father. Jesus was one that was lead into the wilderness to be tempted (Mt. 4:1). Jesus experienced the highest temptations to not participate in the Messianic fulfillment of atoning for all humanity’s sin. Nevertheless, His prayer was for the Lord’s will to be done.
Yet, He calls for His disciples to pray “lead us not into temptation.” Another way of saying this, ‘don’t lead us into testing.’ In speaking this out, we are not necessarily asserting that there will not be testing or temptation, but we are asking for God’s leadership over our’s. We are promised trial and tribulation, but we are not promised temptation and testing, especially from the evil one. I believe that when we find ourselves living from our leadership alone, rather than receiving and living from God’s leadership, we are ultimately leading ourselves into temptation and testing.
As we pray, “lead us not into temptation” today, I encourage you to remember that our Lord is faithful, that He has experienced it all, and that if we find ourselves in temptation, He has overcome it. Let us pray for and from His leadership rather than leadership that will lead us to places we do not belong. It is in His leadership that we belong and I believe we are declaring that when we pray these words. Amen.
Action: It is so easy to live from our own leadership; to think that we know what is best or that we have arrived and figured it all out. The prayer that is at hand today is one in which we can believe beyond our limited minds to an unlimited Resource of Freedom and Strength. Believe for those resources in your life today, pray out: Jesus, align me with Your freedom and strength.
