Jesus teaches us to pray: ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’?
The original temptation to mistrust God and to impute negative motives to him comes from the tempter. ‘Did God really say …’.
The real break between man and God lies in the fact that man questions whether God means well with his instructions.
You often have to look behind a story in order not to impute negative motives to God.
God wants to save us from our self-imposed downfall and prevent abuse.
‘Lead us not into temptation’. This means: ‘God help us to trust you in all situations’.
With the prayer ‘Lead us not into temptation’, we acknowledge our weakness (need for help) and distance ourselves from false self-confidence. We are aware that we need the Holy Spirit because he helps us to trust in God.