History began with a test. Like any good father who puts challenges before his son to teach him and strengthen him, God the Father put Adam to the test. The Father’s intention for Adam was maturity. That was not the intention, however, for the serpent. He took the test of the Father and used it for an occasion to tempt Adam to sin. The serpent tempted Adam to question the motives of his loving Father and to grasp for that which was forbidden at the time. Adam failed the test, succumbing to the temptation of the serpent.
After Adam’s fall into sin, God promised that there would be a woman’s seed who would face the serpent’s seed. The woman’s seed will ultimately be God’s own Son. He will send his Son and, once again, put him to the test. The serpent will, no doubt, do what the serpent does: tempt the Son to question the Father’s motives so as to grasp for the Father’s promises before the appointed time. But this Son will not fail. He will pass the test, resisting temptation, and deliver us from the evil one.
Since the beginning of history, God’s faithful people have been praying for this deliverance from evil. We hear it on the streets entering Jerusalem when Jesus makes his Royal Entry being proclaimed Son of David. The people cry out, “Hosanna,” which means “Save” or “Deliver, I pray.” Jesus calls his own disciples to take up this prayer, looking towards their Father’s promise of deliverance, when he teaches them to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
The way we translate this petition can be somewhat confusing. James tells us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man” (Jms 1.13). If God doesn’t tempt us, isn’t this, at best, a meaningless request? Well, no. The word translated “temptation” in Matthew 6.13 might be better understood as “testing.” The way the word is used to determine whether or not it is good intentions or bad intentions is determined by the motives of the one doing the testing.
We know that God tests his people. I mentioned Adam in the Garden, but God also tested Abraham’s faith, Job’s faith, and the faith of the children of Israel in the wilderness (see Deut 8.1ff.). Our Father puts us to the test with the motivation of killing off those things that would destroy us and bringing us to maturity through trusting him. The evil one twists the Father’s test to tempt us to grumble and complain about his goodness, stir up discontent, and encourage us in our impatience to grasp at things we ought not to have, at least at the present time.
Times of severe testing are greater occasions for temptation. The more we suffer or see those we love suffer, the more we will, most likely, be tempted to abandon our allegiance to our Father. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into testing/temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We are praying something like this, “Keep us from tests so severe that we might be tempted to abandon you. Deliver us from all the sin and calamitous situations as well as the evil one himself.” The prayer acknowledges our weakness as well as our desire to stay faithful to our Father.
This prayer was first on the lips of our Lord. “Testing” or “temptation” is singular. It may be that he is referring to what the Jews would have known as “the messianic woes.” These are the sufferings enumerated in places such as Isaiah 52–53. These will be severe trials. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to escape this test if possible. The Father’s will was that he endure the test. He did. Because he endured that test, we are delivered from evil and the evil one.
But there are still tests and concomitant temptations. So, this prayer is still on our lips. As we suffer severe tests in Muslim dominated lands, in communist China and North Korea, and in other places, we pray for one another not to abandon the faith but to be delivered from evil.
Christians around the world are going through tests of various kinds. We, in the USA, though maybe not suffering physically, are being tested through the COVID-19 quarantine. We are not able to worship as we desire and as we ought. We stand to enter into an economic test with so much of our economy shut down. In these times, we are tempted in various ways to grumble and complain against our Father’s providence. No, no discipline for the time is enjoyable (Heb 12.3-11), so I’m not saying that we should deny that any pain exists. However, we can be tempted to question the Father’s goodness, chafing under the authorities he put over us in a sinful way, and becoming impatient with waiting for all of this to be over. Churches are tempted to innovate in ways, that could promote unbiblical and, therefore, unhealthy practices, for example, of communion; leading people to think of the bread and wine as magical or believing that it is appropriate for them to practice it apart from the church. (See this post by Uri Brito to further read on that subject.) We must be careful and endure the test, not succumbing to temptation. Husbands and fathers may become desperate during the testing and be tempted to do ethically questionable or downright sinful things to provide. Wives and mothers may become frustrated with the insecurity of the situation and be tempted to let fear control them. All of us might be tempted to be enslaved to fear of death, exalting our physical health above every other thing, and this is the very fear from which Jesus came to free us (see Heb 2.14-15).
Pray that our Father will not lead us into any more severe testing. But know that if he does, he is faithful to bring us through it. He will deliver us from evil.
