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enter not
into temptation [sore
tria!]" (Matthew 26:41).
Jesus' entire prayer outline as
given in Matthew 6:9-13 is based
on the premise that those praying
are doing their part to fulfill
God's plan. The request, "Give us
this day our daily bread" (verse
11 ), assumes the requester is
doing what he can to produce and
earn his daily bread . He is not
just sitting still, waiting for the
bread to somehow be handed to
him. Receiving forgiveness of sins
(verse 12) also depends upon
whether we do our part-forgiv–
ing others. Similarly, the petition,
"Lead us not into sore tria!,"
assumes the person praying is dil–
igently straightening out his own
life so God might not have to
straighten it out for him.
When God allows sore trials to
come upon us it is for our own
good- to wake us up, to teach us
lessons.
If
we are learning those
lessons by ourselves, we are much
further ahead. Notice how the verb
form of the same word we are
translating "sore trial' ' is used in 11
Corinthians 13:5: "Examine [test!
try!]
yourselves,
whether ye be in
the faith; prove your own selves."
Then
God won't have to do it
for you! ·
Jeremiah recognized that God
does find it necessary to try his
people. He prayed, "O Lord, cor–
rect me, but with judgment; not in
thine anger, test thou bring meto
nothing" (Jeremiah 10:24). In
other words, he asked to be cor–
rected, but preferably without–
being brought into overly severe
trial.
The Bible refers to hard trials as
"fiery trials" (1 Peter 4:12). Being
sorely tried is not naturally enjoya–
ble. As Peter wrote to Christians:
" ... now for a season,
if
need be,
ye
are in heaviness through manifold
temptations [sore trials]"
(1
Peter
1:6). However, he points out in the
next verse, the results of being so
tried are "more precious than of
gold."
Though we may be severely
tried, we have the promise that
"God is faithful, who will not suf–
fer you to be tempted [tried]
above that ye are able; but will
with the temptation [sore tria!]
also make a way of escape, that ye
may be able to bear it"
(1
Corin–
thians 10:13) .
"All things work together for
good to them that love God," the
Bible asserts (Romans 8:28).
Realizing that God ' s will is
always best, James exhorted:
"My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers tempta–
tions [sore trials]" (James 1:2).
When Trlals lnvolve Temptations
Many have wondered about Gen–
esis 22:1, which says, "And it
carne to pass ... that God did
tempt
Abraham." What follows is
the familiar account of Abraham
preparing to sacrifice his son
Isaac on an altar in obedience to
God's instructions. God wanted
to test Abraham's faith. There
was no question of lust here, for
we have already seen that "God
cannot be tempted with evil, nei–
ther tempteth he any man [with
evil]" (James 1: 13) .
A better rendering of Genesis
22:1 is , "And it carne to
pass ... that God did prove [or
sorely try] Abraham."
Sometimes, however, tempta–
tion todo evil does become a part of
sore trial. This is illustrated by
what happened to ancient Israel.
God had told them to "remember
all the way which the Lord thy God
led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee, and to
prove ["sorely try"-same word
wrongly translated "tempt" in
Genesis 22: l] thee, to know what
was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldest keep bis commandments,
or no" (Deuteronomy 8:2).
Here again God was doing the
testing. By this time sin
was
involved, for the Israeli tes rebelled
against their Creator. They yielded
to temptation to sin. Where did the
temptation come from? From God?
No. God does not tempt todo evil.
Where then? From their own lusts,
because "every man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own
lust, and ent iced. Then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth
sin ..."(James l: 14-15).
God did not test them with
more than they could have with–
stood- ifthey had been willing to
do their part.
To make matters worse, human
lusts are constantly stirred up by
Satan and bis inftuence. He is
called the "tempter" (Matthew
4:3). He tempts to do evil (Mark
1: 13). This brings us to another
facet of the meaning of Jesus '
teaching.
" Lead us not into sore trial' ' is
immediately followed by "but
deliver us from evil," or as it can
be translated, "but deliver us
from the evil one." As Jesus was
instructing bis disciples how to
pray, the occasion was fresh in bis
mind when he himself had been
led into hard testing when the
devil tried, literally, to tempt him
todo evil. "Then was Jesus
led
up
of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be
tempted
[sorely tried] of
the devil" (Matthew 4: l ). Here
again sore trial included tempta–
tion to do evil. But the temptation
was of the devil, not of God.
In this fateful encounter with
Satan, the ruler of the present
world, Jesus prevailed. He over–
came Satan, thus qualifying to be
King over
th~
earth.
We must overcome Satan too,
though God does not permit the
devil to try us as severely as he
tried Jesus. Whenever we do not
resist Satan (James 4:7), we pro–
vide opportunity for him to tempt
us
(1
Corinthians 7:5) .
lt
is even
possible for a church member to
so neglect putting sin out of bis
life that, to wake him up, God
will give him over to Satan for
sorne sore trying. That's what the
apostle Paul referred to when he
instructed the church at Corinth
under his charge to "deliver such
an one unto Satan for the destruc–
tion of the ftesh , that the spirit
may be saved in · the day of the
Lord Jesus"
(1
Corinthians 5:5).
We should pray that we do not
have to be tried in that way.
God is working out his purpose in
our lives. He tests and tries us as
needed to develop righteous charac–
ter in us. The more perfect God's
Spirit in us enables us to become,
the fewer trials will be necessary.
When we pray, "Lead us not into
sore trial, but deliver us from evil,"
we are asking God to perfect us and
bring us to the place where such
trials are not needed. o