Be Thou Our Shield

Be Thou Our Shield

Let’s turn  back to Luke 11 and think about the last portion of the Lord’s prayer. So far we’ve considered what it means to pray that the name of God would be honored as holy, how to have a kingdom emphasis in prayer, what a daily dependence on the Lord to provide looks like, and what it is like to confess sin to our Father. Now, as the Lord finished His lesson to the disciples, He concludes with “And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:4c)

When we compare the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6 we have a bit more detail. Matthew records the Lord teaching us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  What then can we learn from our Lord as we seek to pray in this way? First, we should be reminded that temptations abound in this world. Those whom Christ has redeemed are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Yet, there remains some internal corruption so as to keep them from doing all that they might unto the glory of God. So then, we ought to recognize that temptation to sin is no small matter. 

Second, the Lord Jesus tells us to pray that we should be kept from evil. The language He use is a bit more pointed than speaking about evil in general. The Lord says that we ought to pray that we would be delivered or kept from the evil one. In other words, He is reminding us that we should look to the Lord and ask that He would keep us from the one who seeks to do us harm; namely, Satan. Though he is a defeated foe he is still mighty and wages war against Christ and His Church. Jesus, telling Peter that he would deny Him, said that Satan would sift Peter like wheat. If Satan would sift one of Christ’s Apostles like wheat, then what havoc might he wreak on the average Christian? Yet, we ought not to fear. For, just as the Lord told Peter that He prayed for him so that his faith would not fail, so also we have a Lord who intercedes for us.

Lastly, we can look to the sovereign hand of our great God in the face of trials and temptations. We know, as James tells us, that God tempts no man (James 1:13). While we will never be tempted by the Lord, it may be in accord with His good plan to have us directed into an area of temptation that our faith might be tested. We see this in the life of Christ when He goes into the wilderness to be tried. It was the Holy Spirit who drove the Son into the wilderness (Luke 4:1; Mark 1:12). So it may be that the Lord would have us placed into occasions to have our faith tested, that we might grow in our dependance on Him. Even if this would be the case we can trust that it is for our good and for His glory (Rom. 8:28). 

So, beloved Christian, let us pray that the Lord would keep us from temptations and the evil one. Let us pray that if we would be placed into place of testing that He would uphold us in faith. Let us all rely upon the Lord, trusting that He knows best, and have confidence that we may go to Him in prayer.

Grace be with you, 
C. R. Hamilton