Testing, trials, and temptations are therefore an integral part of the universe and the history of humanity from the time of the Garden of Eden. Life does not progress smoothly and serenely. Character is formed by the circumstances that challenge us to develop. Tests, trials and temptations are not pleasant. They involve pain, or the threat of pain. Yet they must be faced as part of life. We cannot hide from or avoid our share of suffering.

Does that mean that God causes us to suffer? Perhaps the question is better put in other words. Has God put us into a world in which suffering must occur? The answer must be, "Yes." But he wants to give us the resources to deal with the tests and trials of life. The trials we encounter are meant to build us up, not break us down.

This is the context of this petition in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus is not implying that God leads us into temptation to sin. St. James tells us: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." (James 1:13,14) The responsibility for how we respond to temptation, to trials, to tests in life, is clearly with us. We cannot blame others.

"Lead us not", or "let us not" is to be understood in the same way as a very ancient Jewish prayer:

Lead my foot not into the power of sin,

And bring me not into the power of iniquity,

And not into the power of temptation,

And not into the power of anything shameful.

This prayer is not proposing that God is initiating temptation but that he is allowing it to happen - he is permitting it. The nature of creation is to put some distance between the Creator and the Creature to allow for some genuine autonomy and freedom of will. So events occur which may not be the direct will of God, but may be permitted within the course of nature, and the structure of the universe. The prayer therefore means that we are asking God not to permit that we fall into the power of sin, iniquity, temptation, and anything shameful. It is therefore a prayer for preservation from succumbing to temptation. This is the sense of the petition in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus is teaching us to pray that we will not succumb to temptation, or the tests of life.

All of us have the tendency to give way under temptation. We are, more often than not, beaten in our battles with the evil one, our lower nature, and the world in which we find ourselves. We succumb so easily to the stratagems of the Satan, who uses the trials of life to tempt us to despair and curse God.

When a hurricane hits and we lose loved ones, we lose our homes, and our livelihood, there is a temptation to lose our faith in God. Remember Job's wife told her husband to curse God and die. Just as Jesus prayed for Simon Peter that his faith would not fail when Satan asked to sift him as wheat (Luke 22:32), he tells us to pray, in the same manner, for ourselves and one another. He cautioned James, John and Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:41) We ARE weak, and susceptible to temptation. That is why we need to pray for the strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us. That is why we need the whole armor of God to protect us.

It is not a prayer for preservation from temptation but for preservation in temptation. We are not praying that we be spared temptation (that would be to want to be taken out of life, out of human existence), but we are praying that God will help us to overcome temptation.

Temptation does not mean merely the little testings of life but confrontation with evil, with false prophets, with unbelief, with despair. Each of us has to face this. The wife has to face temptation to unbelief and despair when her husband shows signs of dementia, or when Alzheimer's strikes. The parents face temptation to despair when their child disappoints them. Anyone faces temptation to despair when accident, disease, financial failure or natural disaster occurs. We are tempted to fear the worst, to fear for the future, to become desperate in the present, and to become angry at the perceived injustice of our situation.

St. Paul promised that, "no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. And when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

What is the way out, the way to be strengthened. so that we may not succumb to temptation? We need the gift of faith, hope and love.

The gift of faith enables us to grasp onto the truth that is eternal which no one can take away from us or destroy in this world. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. For we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

This is why St. Paul could testify: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Cor.4:8,9)

What is seen on the Gulf Coast, in New Orleans, is death and devastation. It will take some time of grieving for what is lost, to absorb the pain and shock. Eventually faith will come to the rescue. What is seen in the eyes of faith is eternal life, personal renewal and bodily resurrection. We are part of something must bigger which our eyes cannot see. God has prepared for us something much greater and glorious. By faith Jesus Christ stands in the midst of our circumstances to lift us up, to strengthen us, to give us hope.

The gift of hope enables us to look beyond the depressing present to the promise of the future. Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchnezzar of Babylon. But after the prophecy of judgment he was given the promise of a future hope for those who were in exile in Babylon. "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:10-13)

In the midst of circumstances that test us and try us, when we grieve over our losses, we need the gift of a future hope to keep us going. We need to know that there is a way out, a way forward, and a way that leads to a better and more fulfilling life. That is the hope of the Gospel.

The gift of love enables us to trust in God, and to experience his love through his children. The worst part of being tested and tried is to fear that you are on your own. It is then that you need to know that God is with you, and that God is love, and that his angels and his children are there to support and help you. Knowing that others are there to give you the compassion and mercy you need will strengthen you to survive when the going is toughest.

Jesus was there when Mary and Martha lost their brother Lazarus. He wept at the tomb. Jesus was there when the widow of Nain lost her son. Jesus was there when Jairus lost his daughter. Jesus was there when the five thousand were hungry in the wilderness. Jesus was there when the wine ran out at the wedding. Jesus was there when the disciples feared drowning in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan who came to the rescue of the man who had been mugged on the side of the highway Jesus is there when trials and temptations strike us unexpectedly. Jesus is in the policeman or fireman. Jesus is there in the Red Cross worker. Jesus is there with the Salvation Army. Jesus is there with the medical personnel. Jesus is there with the Coastguard and the National Guard.

Jesus is there in those who suffer: in the child, the aged, and the infirm. The glory of the Gospel of Jesus is that God is revealed, not as aloof from humanity, or indifferent to our fate, but as the Love that comes down into our midst, and bears our burdens, and endures the temptations we have to experience in this life. Not only that, but he births a community of love, called the Church, which comes alongside those who suffer, those who are tested and tempted, to enfold them with his loving arms.

When we pray, "lead us not into temptation," we are praying for the faith, the hope, and the love we need to overcome the tests that life brings us. Such a prayer should be always on our lips.

Amelia Plantation Chapel
Amelia Island, Florida

An Audio version of this sermon is to be found on www.ameliachapel.com.