The Father's Guidance

The Lord’s Prayer is a beautifully crafted and easily accessible prayer to pray… except for one small phrase.  “Lead us not into temptation.” It seems very odd that we would need to ask God to not lead us into temptation.  It seems like he would do that automatically.  Why would he intentionally make us deal with temptation or trial?  To deal with this tension, Pope Francis changes the phrase to read, “Do not let us fall into temptation.”  Other traditions have changed it to say, “Save us from the time of trial.” All these are attempts to make sense of a prayer request that seems to misunderstand who God is.

As we focus on this part of the Lord’s Prayer this week, I believe that the gist of this teaching is Jesus reminding us of a powerful truth: unless God leads us, we will always fall into temptation and worse.  This part of the Lord’s Prayer is a plea for God’s guidance in our lives. We are asking God to lead us and guide us, to give us wisdom and discernment as we go through life. We are praying with the old hymn: “Lead me, guide me along the way.  For if you lead me, I cannot stray.” Click below to watch a short video with a few more thoughts on the Father’s Guidance.