Most of us have heard of “The Lord’s Prayer.”  Millions of people around the world can recite it from memory.  In our recitations, we take comfort in the words as those given by God’s Son, for His disciples.

As a youngster, as we learn, we often accept the tutelage of our parents.  Let’s read this passage, and try to say it all by ourselves!  You can do it!  Here, let’s review together.  That’s right…”who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…” Mommy, what does “hallowed” mean?  Daddy, where is heaven?  Even without our understanding, we can and do remember these words, for years to come.

And so, in our memorization, we glibly restate one of the several pleas made to our Father…”lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We say it.  We trust that the Father would not lead us into temptation.  Why would we want to ask the Father not to lead us into temptation?

In a logical view of the phrase, one could imagine the opposite plea, to be led into temptation.  Obviously this prayer request makes no sense at all.  We wouldn’t ask the Father to move us into a place of temptation.  In fact, the Bible teaches us exactly what temptation is.  It’s a pretty simple definition, and worthy of our attention.

Temptation is usually thought to be a place, a person, or a thing that is attractive in some way, yet a place, person or thing that will ultimately harm us.  We can look at the first book of the Bible to learn of the temptation of Eve.  Here, Eve sees the fruit of a tree forbidden to eat, and of course, takes a fateful bite.  We we read of Eve’s decision, we read that Eve “saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.”  Truly, the fruit appears to be the temptation.

But, before Eve makes her decision to eat the fruit, we can read the real temptation Eve faced…she is told if she eats the fruit, “you will be like God.”  Wow!  I can be like God?  One can only imagine…and in fact, we’ve all likely laughed at the movie Bruce Almighty where an unsuspecting TV reporter does become like God.  Bruce, having the joy of being able to do whatever he wants, gives us all the perfect view of ultimate power in the hands of the everyman.  It’s not pretty.

Temptation.  What is it?  Looking at a passage written some years after the Lord’s Prayer, we read that “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.”  This is temptation.  This is all it is.  Desire that drags us away.  Desire that entices us.  Temptation is desire.  Our own desire.

It’s hard to believe.  It’s hard to accept.  Our temptations are not fruit growing on a tree, in a garden, available to us whenever we walk through it.  Our temptations are not fruit that would sustain us physically, as apples or oranges do.  Our temptations are not fruit that would give us wisdom, as avocados and blueberries can do.  Our temptations are simply our desires, and ultimately, our desire to be like God, in His ultimate power and dominion over all creation.

And in the prayer that our Lord taught us, that phrase “lead us not into temptation” now has new meaning.  In a way, it is the same meaning as the phrase “thy Kingdom come.”  Our Lord taught us that the Kingdom was not earthly–not a renaissance of the nation of Israel.  In fact, God’s Kingdom is clearly described as being inside us.  It is the relationship we have with God, His kingship over our lives.  That Kingdom, His Kingdom, is a place without temptation!  It is a relationship free from temptation, as our desires are replaced by His!

We read that we are to pray “lead us not into temptation.”  Truly, a relationship with our Father can free us from temptation.  So why do we pray “lead us?”  If we take the meaning that our Father would be at the front of the line, and heading in the right direction, we are once again curious as to why we would pray something so obvious.  Of course our Father would go in the best direction.  We can even read about our Father leading the nation of Israel in a trackless desert with a pillar of fire at night and a column of smoke during the day.  Is this the leading we ask of our Father?

Looking once again at the destination, it appears more likely that “lead us” has a much deeper meaning.  If our Father leads us “not into temptation” He is not leading us to a place.  He is not leading us to something that will feed us and sustain us.  He is not leading us to knowledge of good and evil.  Since temptation is by definition our own evil desires, our Father is leading us away from these!  Our Father is leading us…to Himself!

And so we can see why our Lord asked us to pray “lead us not into temptation.”  Father, show us Your desires!  Father, replace our desires with Yours!  Father, bring us to You!  Father, lead us, not into temptation.