When we pray this petition of the Lord's Prayer, we acknowledge the kind of dangerous world we live in---a world where, as Peter puts it in his epistle, the devil "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). We are saying to the Father that the only safety in this world is in his hands, in the powerful deep grace of the cross. We're only safe when we stay close to him.

The way this petition reads can be disturbing. "And lead us not into temptation" seems to imply that sometimes God leads us toward evil. The word for temptation here can also mean a test. Temptation from the devil's point of view is an opportunity for our ruin, our downfall. But from God's point of view, it's a test of faith, an opportunity for growth and learning. Another translation of this petition, perhaps more helpful to us, is "deliver us from the time of trial."

As we pray this prayer, we remember who taught it to us: Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. He himself was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and the only weapon in his hand was the power of God's Word. His answer to the devil, again and again, was "It is written. . . ."

So the writer of Hebrews tells us that the one who was tempted---not only in the wilderness, but all through his life---"is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18). The Son, at the Father's right hand, understands the struggle and is there to give us aid and comfort if we will turn to him. Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted, and through his own temptations he helps us understand how to withstand ours. It's telling that one of the ways Jesus responded to the devil's temptations was by using the Word of God. "It is written . . ." he says over and over. The devil is a liar who even twists God's own Word. It's only by standing in the truth of God's Word that we can prevail.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Here we come into the heart of the battle. It's a cry to God that he will help us hold on to faith and never lose it. A friend gets stabbed in a parking lot. A high-school daughter gets pregnant. You lose all your zest for life in a bout of dark depression. Your spouse betrays you. You find out you have cancer. That's the kind of world we live in.

We don't walk around behind an invisible protective shield. We are vulnerable. When we pray this prayer for deliverance from evil, we admit that we do not have the resources in ourselves to resist it. We battle real, invisible, and overwhelming powers. And in our weakness we can reach out for the only One who can deliver.

The battles still rage, but we know who won the war. He won it on the dark night in the garden when others had failed the test, and he won it on that dark afternoon when God himself seemed to forsake him. Therefore we pray with absolute confidence, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."