Temptation and evil: two things every Christian, justifiably, would probably like to avoid! But Jesus gives us a different request to offer up to the Father regarding each of these issues: that we would be led away from temptation, and that we would be delivered from evil. This use of different wording is, I believe, deliberate.

Take a Different Path

Let’s take temptation first. In requesting that we not be led into temptation, we are asking God to enable us to walk a completely different path, in an opposite direction. Temptation is something we need to flee at all costs, for “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41).

This is illustrated vividly in Proverbs 5, where the tempting adulteress appears, with lips that “drip honey” and words that are “smoother than oil” – but in the end she is “bitter as gall”. The warning is clear: “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house” (Prov 5:8). And in the previous chapter: “Do not set foot on the path of the wicked, or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way” (Prov 4:14-15).

By way of contrast, the wise father instructs his son:

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble…The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day…Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. (Prov 4:11-12, 18, 25-27)

So, temptation is an enticing pathway – but one that leads us off course, into sin and towards death. James writes in his epistle that God does not tempt anyone, but that we are tempted when our own evil desires drag us away and entice us towards sin (James 1:13-15).

Likewise, Jesus instructed His disciples to “Pray that you will not fall into temptation” (Luke 22:40). So should we, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, ask God in His mercy to protect us from our own weaknesses and lead us on the Highway of Holiness (Isa 35:8) in obedience and truth.

Victory in Battle

The injunction about evil is similar, but slightly different. We ask “deliver us from evil” – not “lead us not into evil”! God does not promise us a life free from evil! But He does desire to deliver us through it, whether this means physically or spiritually, outwardly or inwardly, eternally or in this life.¹

When the Children of Israel inherited the Promised Land, they did not inherit a land that was empty and dormant, awaiting colonisation. They inherited a land where other tribes and peoples were already established – and it was God’s will that they be replaced. Before the Israelites even arrived, they faced unprovoked attacks (e.g. by the Amalekites), leading to several battles through which God’s mighty deliverance was displayed.

In other words, God’s people had to undergo difficulties – and they still have to today. We are not called to flee evil in the same way that we are to flee temptation (though of course we are not to seek evil out either - we should engage only on God’s terms, with His wisdom, protection and armour). Sometimes we are called to go and fight – and sometimes the battle comes to us, whether we like it or not. The only choice we are given is: fight or flee.

God’s Desire to Rescue

Hopefully this distinction that Jesus makes can help us today as we pray into and seek to respond to all sorts of difficulties and challenges. But, despite their distinction, the injunctions “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” are still connected – still part of the same sentence and seemingly flowing into one another.

Herein is a great encouragement for us all: sometimes, despite our best efforts, we do get enticed into temptation. We fall foul of our fleshly weaknesses and become ensnared. But even in that place of great evil, where all our strength fails, there is still hope. Jesus Himself instructs us to cry “Deliver us!” and we can be sure that God, in His great mercy, never fails to answer the heart-felt cry of a loved one that has stumbled or become trapped.

Author: Frances Rabbitts

Notes

1 There is a time when believers are deliberately not delivered from evil - when their hard-heartedness, pride and wilful sin leaves God no other choice but to allow them to be subjected to a deal of suffering in order to bring them to repentance (e.g. 1 Cor 5) – but that is another topic.