Lead Us Not into Temptation

Ever notice that phrase we use so often which comes from the book of Matthew, chapter six, verse 11, part of the example Jesus gave when his students asked him how they should pray: “Lead us not into temptation”? That has been a pretty standard translation of Jesus’s words over the centuries. Until I read a few commentaries on this passage, I was at a loss to understand it. How could a loving God ever be understood to entertain the idea of seducing us to commit evil? Is that not what the passage implies—imploring our Father not to take us by the hand and drag us into a place where we will sin? Please! However, it turns out that another slant on that petition is “save us from the time of trial [it’s in our BCP],” and “do not bring us to the test.” Here we see two striking differences: the first asks him to rescue us from something or else don’t cause us to approach it. The second [a bit obtuse, I’d say] requests him to permit us to walk through, or maybe to guide us through, that something which has the potential to leave us stronger if we survive it. These alternative interpretations lead one to look upon testing as a productive venture for our character development. Is that what our Lord really means?
Regardless of how we read this request, we’ve just asked God for his will to be done, so if we beg not to arrange for us to be tested, isn’t that either a cowardly or an untrusting attitude? Lots to ponder in that line of the old familiar prayer!