LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL EYE

“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:13

According to our western way of thinking, the devil is our biggest problem. We attribute to him our struggles and our woes. It’s easy to blame him because it absolves us from taking responsibility for our own choices and behaviour. Instead, we say, “The devil made me do it!”

But according to Jesus, we ought to pray, “Save me from myself.”

Jesus ends this pattern prayer with the indication that He is aware of our biggest problem – not the Evil One but the evil eye – the “yetzer harah”. It is the greed, selfishness, self-absorption, and wickedness in our hearts more than the devil that is the cause of the mess man has created on earth. The devil may play on these things to lure us away from God’s best way to live, but Adam chose to go his own way in the beginning and his stubborn and rebellious nature was passed down to us from generation to generation.

If our biggest problem were the devil, we would be victims and God could not hold us responsible for our behaviour. However, together with God’s gift of free will comes the responsibility to choose His way and the consequences of the choices we make.

It is not in the devil’s power to make us do anything, but his capacity to deceive us is where we fall into His trap. James was fully aware of the evil desires within man that are attracted to the enticements of sin. He warned that we must not think it is God who tempts us. Our own evil desires drag us away, entice us to sin and lure us towards death (James 1:13-15).

As believers, God has given us His own nature; “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises so that, through them, you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3,4) and His indwelling presence to deliver us from the evil eye. Our problem is that we are subject to deception when we do not know the truth.

Hence, included in His pattern prayer is the request, “Give us today our daily bread.”  Without the diligent study of God’s word to reinforce our souls with God’s truth, we would easily be caught up in Satan’s deception and the bondage to our old nature which comes with it. 

Jesus urged us to pray that we will not be enticed toward greed and wickedness by following the dictates of our old nature but that, instead, our hearts will be drawn to God’s kingdom, to the will of God, which is good and perfect, so that we can enjoy living life His way.