05/13/2026
Why in the Lord’s Prayer do we ask our heavenly Father not to lead us into temptation? God tempts no one (James 1:13), so why make that kind of request?
The mistake we make is that we do not view the full thought within the prayer. Jesus does not simply say, “Lead us not into temptation.” He continues: “but deliver us from evil.” That is crucial.
Asking God not to do something, but instead to do something else, is a pattern of prayer firmly established in the Psalms, and that pattern is continued in the Lord’s Prayer.
This is why praying the Psalms is so crucial. The Lord’s Prayer is, in many ways, a digest of all 150 psalms. If we do not hear it with psalm-shaped ears, we will misunderstand it.
In the Psalms, we repeatedly see this “not this, but this” form:
“O Lord, do not be far off; come quickly to my aid” (Ps. 22:19)
“Do not forsake me, O Lord… make haste to help me” (Ps. 38:21–22)
“Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries… have regard for the covenant” (Ps. 74:19–20)
“Do not incline my heart to any evil… set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth” (Ps. 141:4; 141:3)
Sometimes the negative comes first, sometimes the positive, but together they form one complete thought.
O Lord, do not do this, but do that.
That same pattern is at work in the Lord’s Prayer. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” is not two separate ideas. You cannot take either part in isolation.
Together they form a single request: Father, do not let us fall into temptation, but instead rescue us and deliver us from evil.
God is not going to tempt anyone. Rather, we are praying that he would preserve us, guard us, and deliver us from any evil that may harm us or lead us into what is contrary to his will.
That is what we are asking: rescue us, deliver us from every evil of body and soul.
And we understand this only when we hear the Lord’s Prayer through the voice of the Psalms.
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We read Matthew 6 today in Bible in One Year. Join us at any time at https://www.1517.org/oneyear
