The final phrase which the disciples were instructed to pray dealt with temptation and deliverance from that temptation. The word temptation can mean both temptation to sin and a test. Indeed a temptation to sin is a test of a moral kind. Jesus is not however saying that God tempts man to sin.
It is put bluntly in James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
James makes it very plain that God does not tempt in the way Satan tempts. The model prayer expresses an attitude, it began in petitioning God for His kingdom to come and proceeds with our submission to his will. Now within that submission to whatever God brings into our life, we turn to the One into whose hand our entire being has been given and ask Him to remember that we are human and dependent upon Him. Lord, keep us from temptation, trials and tribulation, for we are weak and frail. We cannot stand against the powers that will be brought against us. This room in the prayer is one of humility which is directly connected to room of submission to the will of God.
I believe Paul is operating in this attitude when he wrote
1Cor. 10:13 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].
But, what is the way of escape? I used to think that 1 Cor 10:13 was like a room with many doors and in the center of that room was the temptation, the trail, the obstacle I was to escape. All I had to do was pick one of the doors and walk away. I've found in my personal experience that such an idea was not reality at all. Perhaps the emphasis in the verse should not be on escape but on "the way."
If we read John 14:6 we found that Jesus promises us that He is the way. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
When we place our trust in Jesus as the way we will find the power to overcome the temptations and trials of life. When we realize that in our own power we are unable to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that will come into our life because we have fully submitted ourselves to God, then we will know the power of real humility. It is a cry to God for his deliverance that we might continue to serve and submit our lives to Him.
Without humility my prayer and indeed my service to God is only a sham. I must recognize that I am incapable of anything unless God intervenes. Humility is not weakness, it fact true humility is the key to real strength. For God's strength is not given to the proud but only to the lowly. Real strength is mine only when I realize how weak I really am and how great He is.
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