“Lead us not into temptation.” What is this “temptation” that the Lord tells us to pray about? The ultimate temptation we all face is this: the temptation to be other than where we are; the temptation to be other than who we are.
How many of us spend time wishing for a more prefect world, a more congenial association of family members, a different spouse, a different job, a different world? And how many of us spend time wishing I were other than who I am, wishing that that I didn’t have this or that problem, didn’t have this or that history, didn’t have this or that struggle in life? Think of all the effort and money spent on being a different “me,” less gray haired, less fat, less lonely, more happy, more wealthy, something, anything, other than who I am.
This temptation was the temptation of Jesus Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane: to be in a different place, to be facing a different immediate future, to be other than this kind of Messiah. He could have run up the hill of the Mount of Olives and run to safety at the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus. But His hour had come. He was indeed the type of Messiah depicted in the Suffering Servant Songs of Isaiah; this was His calling and now the hour had come for Him to embrace what was before Him.
Another translation for “lead us not into temptation” is “subject us not to the test.” Do not let us be put to the test, namely the test of being tempted to be elsewhere, and to be someone other than who we really are.
So, the next time you experience the temptation to be dissatisfied with your life or with your predicament, or with your loved ones, or with your plight in life, or with your looks, or with your history of sin, or with your being you, then pray the Lord’s Prayer, and pay attention to this line: “Lead us not into temptation.”
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