Will God lead us into temptation

[Constantlyreforming]

I was having a discussion with a close Christian friend at church this past Sunday. He asked me what the difference was between James where he states that God does not tempt any man, and where Christ prayed “lead us not into temptation”. My comment back to him was a follow up question. I asked him “who led Christ into the wilderness in order to be tempted?”.

I do not believe that God will tempt anyone directly. I do believe, however, that God will put us in the minefields of temptation; sometimes to strengthen our faith. Other times, to test our faith. And still other times to cause us to cast ourselves upon the throne of Grace, seeking power from His Spirit to pull us through.
Any thoughts on this? I do think we should pray that God not lead us into a season of temptation, yet, we should also mimic Christ’s prayer to the Father, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” In praying “give us this day our daily bread”, we do not necessarily receive anything from God for praying this prayer, as it may be His will to withhold our daily bread to cause us to cast ourselves at His mercy. When we ask Him to deliver us from evil, it doesn’t mean that He necessarily will; He may let us be victim to the evil one for a time, testing our patience and faith as we are afflicted by the hand of God through Satan’s works.
Love to have some discussion on this.
In Christ,

Ethan

 

[NB3K]

I believe you are spot on! I don't think Scriptures teach us that God "tempts" us to sin against Him but to build our reliance upon Him and HIm alone.

I like what Calvin says in one of his sermons that we ought to pray to God that He not check our fruit rigoriously but to bear us in His unending Love & Grace.

 

[Jack K]

What you wrote sounds right to me.

1. God does not tempt like the devil does, hoping to catch us doing wrong.
2. But he does sometimes, in his good providence, lead us into places and situations that do tempt us.
3. Even so, we should pray to avoid such times of temptation and evil much as we pray to avoid hunger ("give us our dialy bread"), even knowing that God may in his wisdom put us through such things.

 

[steadfast7]

2. But he does sometimes, in his good providence, lead us into places and situations that do tempt us.
3. Even so, we should pray to avoid such times of temptation and evil much as we pray to avoid hunger ("give us our dialy bread"), even knowing that God may in his wisdom put us through such things.

Given these two premises, it sounds like we ought to pray counterintuitively to God's will.
"lead me not into temptation" - a strange prayer indeed. Something that will take lots of meditation.

 

[AlexanderHenderson1647]

Here's a very Biblical perspective to compliment what you and the others have already said:

WLC Question 195: What do we pray for in the sixth petition?

Answer: In the sixth petition (which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil), acknowledging, that the most wise, righteous, and gracious God, for divers holy and just ends, may so order things, that we may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations; that Satan, the world, and the flesh, are ready powerfully to draw us aside, and ensnare us; and that we, even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our corruption, weakness, and want of watchfulness, are not only subject to be tempted, and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations, but also of ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them, and to improve them; and worthy to be left under the power of them: we pray, that God would so overrule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh, and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we and all his people may by his providence be kept from being tempted to sin; or, if tempted, that by his Spirit we may be powerfully supported and enabled to stand in the hour of temptation: or when fallen, raised again and recovered out of it, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof: that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet, and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil, forever.

 

[jwithnell]

Everything posted so far is sound. I have had a different (though not competing) line of thought as I often use the Lord's Prayer as a framework for praying. We have no right to a life that would keep us from the very acts that would draw us down into the most base behavior. Nor do we have some insulation against the evil around us. We ask God in his mercy to keep us from those very paths that would destroy us and to protect us from the evil that could overwhelm us. We are, in a sense, asking God to keep us back from the edge. Yes, we could be pushed out into situations that would be beyond our ability to withstand temptation and we are asking God to protect us from those paths.

 

[BobVigneault]

We complicate the matter a bit more than necessary by trying to turn temptation into two words - testing and temptation. Peirasmos is the word used for both. The difference is in whether we entertain the testing or resist the testing. God does not tempt us to evil, meaning that God will never encourage us to entertain sin. Quite the opposite, God will always give the believer the grace to resist temptation, resist the Devil, resist the inclinations of our heart.

God led Israel into the wilderness to be tempted/tested. The easiest way to deal with temptation is to give in, entertain it. Israel gave in and failed the food and water test. God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. He would not entertain the temptation. Jesus love the Father more than any thing and could not fail. His grace is now available to us when we come up against testing from the world, the flesh and the Devil. God will prove our faith or our weakness by placing us in a wilderness of testing. We will resist and we will fail as well but we will fall on his grace and therefore we will be changed yet again.