Week 5, day 5: Is temptation a test?

“And lead us not into temptation” (NIV)

“Do not bring us to hard testing” (Good News)

This week, we are praying along with the Watts family - parents Jen and Rick with children Abbie and Nathan.

Jen says:

For me, this is the hardest part of the prayer to understand and seems to contradict everything I think I know about the nature and character of God. Does God deliberately tempt us? Is there some kind of test that we need to pass? The story of Job seems to suggest so.

The verse in The Street Bible puts it this way:

‘Please pull as back from the edge of evil, if we’re falling, or being thrown.’

This feels a more helpful translation for me. Regardless of who is doing the pushing – us, God or the devil, the point is that we ask God to pull us back. We have our part to play too of course – we shouldn’t venture towards that metaphorical edge whatever that looks like for us. We can ask God to give us the strength to make good choices and break bad habits.