Matthew 6:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Clearly the Lord would not lead us into temptation. The real petition here is ‘Lord lead us’, for if he leads us nothing can go wrong. It is a request coupled with an affirmation of faith. If God leads us perfect we have guidance. Nevertheless, temptation is a reality for the believer as it is also for the unbeliever, but from the moment of conversion the Christian is engaged in a lifelong and, at times, intense battle with sin. Before conversion Satan who counted us as his own and was content to leave us relatively untroubled, but now that we have trusted in Christ he knows that we have left his dominion. He cannot bear that any should escape from his grasp, and being filled with cynicism does not believe in the reality of our faith. He is determined to prove that all believers are hypocrites and to enslave them again in the tentacles of sin. He therefore begins a relentless assault which is kept up to the end. The ferocity of his attack is limited by the Lord so that he cannot simply overpower us with superior force; rather he must fish for us so that we willingly return to him, and so he begins a campaign of skilful and deceitful enticement, dressing sin up in every conceivable disguise. He continually questions the consequences of sin which God warns us of, and exaggerates its pleasures, hiding the terrible pain that it brings to conscience. He has practiced these skills for thousands of years and employs an army of fellow tempters, who study to bring down the people of God. He wishes to bring into question the goodness of God and cannot bear that any should sincerely follow Christ; his pride and his hatred of God cannot bear to think that some truly submit to God’s law and serve him gladly. Yet in this matter of temptation we are not without help. God observes everything that the devil does and intervenes in the struggle, turning the worst of his attacks away from us. But it is part of our struggle with sin that we take care not to be led into temptation in the first place. Satan tries to get the believer to approach closer to sin and in the end be drawn into its whirlpool attraction. He tells us a thousand times that we can get close enough to sin to derive a little pleasure from it without being drawn the whole way in. But the only safe response is to get as far from it as possible, and to minimise its attraction. It is a subtle way of trying to get around the Lord’s prohibition for us to want to be tempted but not actually to yield to sin. The mind wants to toy with the possibility of sin while knowing that it is wrong to yield to it. But if we pray, lead us not into temptation, we ask to be given no contact with sin at all. This complete and utter rejection of sin is the only safe attitude with which to arm the mind. ‘Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 6:11), says Paul. This is the most powerful stance we can take.The help being asked for is not just a little help. This request is an acknowledgement that we are powerless to resist our enemy the devil unless God protects us. Satan has superior power, skill, and experience to us. We remember that he was created as one of the mightiest of the angels. In every instance in Scripture where someone encounters an angel, they are overwhelmed with weakness at even being in the angel’s presence. The devil has lost none of his power by his fall. It is impossible that we should withstand him if not for the Lord’s deliverance.The phrase ‘but deliver us from evil’ has two possible meanings, because the word evil could refer to the devil, or to evil as an entity, but, as Calvin says, we should raise no debate about this because it comes to the same thing either way. The devil is certainly behind all temptation even if evil as an entity is at work. This prayer is then a cry to God to be delivered from an enemy who is utterly ruthless and cruel, and who would happily see our eternal souls lost in hell. He is without compassion and cannot be appeased. He has various ways of working. He may try to terrify us into submission or he may disguise himself to put us at ease so that we lose sight of our danger. From all this we need deliverance, which can only come from the Lord. We therefore ask God to intervene. We believe that even the devil is in God’s hands: Paul says exactly this, ‘There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it’ (1 Corinthians 10:13). ‘For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’ These words are not a grand way of ending the prayer. The prayer ends in consecration, and with a solemn affirmation that you recognise his authority, power, and glory. The same power that sustains the universe can deliver the drunk, the proud, the selfish from their sin. These are terms of commitment. God owns your life, your home, and all that you possess; your life is not your own. If the Lord were to withdraw his power, our lives would collapse. All glory is his and we won’t do anything to draw attention to ourselves. Where we work or study, we give our testimony and we are ready to give honour to the Lord, otherwise we are just squatters in his world. It is for ever: nothing can diminish his Godhead, his work of atonement. Justification, sanctification, adoption all last forever. God’s love never fluctuates. When we appreciate it helps us greatly: it gives us a sense of privilege and security. No human authority last forever but God holds our eternal future in his hands. ‘Amen’ – is it closing the door with a decent conclusion, like an end of a piece of music? Is that all you think of prayer – correctly punctuated? No, it means, ‘Lord let thy will stand. Thou art the power and the glory I want thy will. This is my delight. I stand with thy cause.’