Lord’s Prayer 13: Put us not to the test!
Isn’t it strange how the meaning of certain words either become old fashioned or their meaning completely changes.
An extremely good example of the change of the meaning of a word, is ‘GAY’
A simple dictionary describes this adjective as someone who is merry or light-hearted, someone who is showy, who is enjoying life.
And someone who has these characteristics, the best and by far the easiest way to describe them is Gay!
But today this adjective, this word describes a noun and means something completely different.
The words we use in worship have also changed (and not necessarily for the better) eg ‘Thy’ has changed to ‘Your’ and this has an effect on simple phrases – ‘Thy will be done’ – ‘Your will be done’
Many of us have been brought up on the King James version of the bible and the newer versions of today seem to have lost something in terms of the poetry found in the King James version.
The kind of poetry which brings home the real meaning of that passage of scripture.
This is certainly true of those passages of scripture which indeed do read like poetry.
But really those passages are very few and far between, the psalms, the book of Proverbs, the prophet Isaiah and so on.. for example.
And again it is essential that such passages read from the King James Version of the Bible should be read properly.
Those of us who are not familiar with the style of the King James version of the Bible find it extremely difficult to read as it was written in the 17th century for the people of that time.
And hence the meaning is lost – its all about language and communication which has to be understood!
It is one such passage in the Lord’s Prayer that can fall into this category and strangely the passage that we are familiar with does come from the King James version: ‘Lead us not into Temptation’.
Modern versions of the bible simply put it as: ‘Do not bring us to hard testing’ – Good News Bible, which sound horrible but we know what it means!!
‘Do not bring us to the test’ – New English Bible, which is a reasonable compromise in terms of flow and above all meaning.
The poetry of the King James version, ‘Lead us not into temptation’ is really great, it flows and has character but what does it mean?
Are we praying to our Heavenly Father to lead us not into temptation, does that mean that God is the instigator of our temptations to sin? – surely not!
When we come to think about it, this is on the face of it an extraordinary pray to pray, for in what sense can we ever believe that God would lead us into temptation?
How could God ever be responsible for the attempt to seduce us to sin?
Surely it is a contradiction, since sin is the deliberate disobedience to the will of God.
God tempting us to disobey His own will? – surely not!
In trying to analyse this term, ‘Lead us not into temptation’, we have reached a dead end and we have to start again.
This is not an unusual approach since whenever trying to analyse a problem be it mathematical or scientific or everyday problems, it is sometimes better to start again using a different approach, a different tactic, a different or new theory…. In this case a new translation of the Lord’s Prayer.
But before we move on to the modern translation, ‘Do not bring us to the test’, it is important to realise that the Greek word for trail and temptation is the SAME.
Again and again in the bible the authors point out the importance of being tried and tested, for example:
‘ When He has tried me’ said Job, ‘I shall come forth as gold’ (Job 23:10)
‘Count it all joy, my brethren’, said James, ‘when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness’. (James 1:2)
So in this case, then the words test, trial and temptation mean effectively the same thing.
So as to avoid any confusion modern translations use the word TEST to make our Lord’s words crystal clear.
‘Do not bring us to the test’
But what test is Jesus referring to? At the end of the day we are all human, we are not perfect, we all fall and make mistakes – which hopefully we all learn from.
We are tested day by day with problems and temptations which at the time appear insurmountable and at other times quite trivial.
These tests are those which God uses to strengthen us for His service.
The test we pray in the Lord’s prayer not to bring us to is the one that leads us to the evil one, the response to the verse.
‘Do not bring us to the test: but deliver us from the evil one’
This is a completely different test, the type of test that turns us away from God and oppose His divine will for us.
So we could categorise these tests for a Christian – one type is for our benefit, the other for our detriment.
The first type of test strengthens us in the Race of life or as St James puts it ‘produces steadfastness’.
Imagine ourselves in a race in which we have to jump over hurdles, as we jump over one so we soon face another – in jumping one we have the strength and tactics to jump over the next.
As we overcome the trials and temptations of a problem in our lives so we have the strength and knowledge to overcome the next.
If we fail, which let us face it, we often do!
The next problem isn’t necessarily insurmountable but might be a little bit more difficult than if we had tried harder the time before.
If we knock one hurdle down it doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to knock down the next.
St Paul’s analogy of a RACE, the race of life, is a very good picture for us to use and remember and St Paul was very fond of it and it was the theme to the film, ‘Chariots of Fire’.
The 2nd test and those that follow are by far the most dangerous for us since it could eventually lead us into isolation from God.
Better known to us as SIN!
But for me the most reassuring aspect of all this is that even Jesus was tempted, tested a number of times in His ministry:
• In the wilderness
• In the garden of Gethsemane
Being tempted or tested in itself is not a sin but it is giving into the temptation that leads us into sin.
So in the Lord’s prayer we pray: ‘Do NOT put us to the test but deliver us from the evil one.’
The problem is how do we know what kind of test we are confronted with? – Will it lead us into evil?
We might succumb to a steamily trivial test which might lead us eventually into a situation of sin.
And unfortunately sin breads sin and we have to fight very hard not to reach the point of no return.
The fact of life is that when we are tested we do not know what type of test that confronts us, all we know is that we have to try and overcome it.
And that’s what really matters!
Indeed it goes beyond that for the Christian who believes in the power of prayer, in particular the meaning and purpose of the Lord’s prayer.
After all the Lord’s prayer is the pattern of all prayer which Jesus Himself taught us.
The key or answer to all of this must surely be in what St Paul said in 1Corrinthians 10: 1-13 and I used 6 different versions of the Bible to find a meaning that hit home for me, especially verse 13:
‘No test has come upon you other than that which comes on everyone. You can rely on God, for He will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able to bear, but He will send with the trial an escape route as well so that you may be able to bear it.’
Its almost as if St Paul is saying, ‘You needn’t jump over all the hurdles in the race, you can run around some of them instead.’
This is our way out, our escape route, God’s answer to our prayer is NOT the way of surrender or retreat.
It isn’t necessarily the easiest route either.
But it is surely God’s way of helping us through a particularly difficult period in our lives.
When that testing is perhaps too hard for us to bear.
God shows us an alternative route to the way of conquest – this is the power of prayer.
So that by God’s Power and Grace working in our lives we can overcome that test and are indeed delivered safe and sound from the evil one!
‘Do NOT put us to the test but deliver us from the evil one.’
Thank You Lord for Your goodness and especially for the gift of Your Son who taught us how to pray.
