And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
What would school be like without tests? Would there be an urgency to learn? Would there be a way of knowing if we had learned? Tests reveal to us as much as to the teacher if we have learned the material that we are being tested on. Tests provide a sense of accountability and urgency from knowing that the test will come and reveal what is hidden (our knowledge hides in our brain until we express it in some way).
A life without testing might look like a school without testing. Motivation would be difficult to muster, and knowledge would be impossible to measure.
Tests are standardized to provide equal opportunity for success and to create a standard to which all students are expected to reach. Life is a little different.
It seems that in life each test is individually tailored by the Teacher to stretch each of us beyond our reach. These tests are intended to reveal to us what is hidden in our hearts for the purpose of learning and growing in such a way that we must lean on Him.
To desire a life without tests would take away opportunities for learning and would diminish our motivations in so many ways. We would risk losing the understanding of our dependence upon Him. The life of Jesus was a life of testing as was the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt. Life includes tests.
The heart of God is that our testing would reveal to us His goodness, our need for Him, and places where He wants to grow us.
The enemy has something else in mind. The enemy wants to bring testing for the purpose of destruction. Like a teacher who intentionally makes a test that all will fail, he uses tricky phrasing and distracting language to bring us to failure and destruction.
According to scholars, the plea “lead us not into temptation” is not a cry to the Lord to never be tested; it’s a plea to stay the course and to not end up in the place of failure and destruction. God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested (Luke 4). That testing included fasting for a very long time, prayer, solitude, and temptation. The testing of Jesus included the evil one’s intent to destroy Him, but that wasn’t God’s intent.
Tests will come, but Lord, deliver us from evil. Let not our testing end in destruction.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to embrace testing, knowing that you can get a good grade with His help because He is rooting for you. Perhaps God wants you to run hard and fast from the enemy’s temptation that you have been flirting with. That temptation is for your destruction. Use the Word of God to fight it and walk away. Maybe God wants you to see that He does not want you to fail. He’s the good teacher.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 148-149, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 6:9-13) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).