Rescue Us

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

RESCUE US

Luke 11:2-4

2 He said to them, "When you pray, say:

"'Father,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.  

3 Give us each day our daily bread.

4 Forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.'" 

NIV

How do we deal with God leading us into temptation? Of course, we are asking Him not to lead us into temptation, but why? The fact is that we should never ever say that God is tempting us, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. We must know that when we are tempted, and how can we ever say we are never tempted, but when we are it is because of our own evil desires. Those evil desires can drag us away as they entice us. We must turn from them before they become a part of us and bring us down to the pit, or as James puts it our own evil desires give birth to sin and sin leads to death. God will never lead us to temptation for He cannot be tempted. So then why would he ever lead us to temptation. However, many manuscripts include, as Matthew has, but deliver us from evil. Now that makes sense, God will always lead us away from sin, and away from temptation. Still, our own hearts are at the center of temptation, and because we live in this world that is full of temptations at every turn, it is almost impossible to keep our own hearts from wanting something, or desire to experience some pleasure afforded not just from the temptation, but from giving in to it. We do not think, that our hearts are bent toward evil all the time, like those whom God grieved he made and called upon Noah to build that ark. But, at the same time, we have to admit that we are not as pure as the driven snow, or without sin. Unfortunately, our humanness forbids us from being holy and blameless. So we ask our Father who is in heaven to deliver us from all evil. The Greek word rhoumai, which Matthew included, “but deliver us from evil” is the word translated as deliver but carries a deeper meaning of to rescue us from evil. Again, we wonder why we even have to ask, other than Jesus told us to, for God to rescue us from evil. But then we do still have evil within our humanness because we are drawn away by certain temptations. Then we are asking God to rescue us from ourselves, which he already did by sending Jesus who paid the price for our sinfulness and because we are now in Christ, and God sees us in Christ, He sees us as holy and blameless. However, we still need to ask for deliverance from those pesky temptations that are always lurking around. Father, rescue us.