Dear North Church,

From time to time, maybe once a week if I can manage it, I’ll send you one of these iterations of a reflection on things Godly and human that won’t take any time at all to read. I call these God Briefly. I hope you’ll find them helpful.
God Briefly #5
Last year, the Pope suggested new language for the Lord’s Prayer. He said “lead us not into temptation” was “not a good translation.” He suggested “Do not let us fall into temptation.” I’m not so sure that is ever going to catch on but he’s right in saying that God does not lead us into temptation. So what does the phrase mean?

The Greek word is petrazein, which is more accurately and usually translated as test, that is, it is not used about seduction into sin so much as it is to test someone’s strength and loyalty and his ability for service. It is the word used when God tested Abraham’s loyalty by the possible sacrifice of Isaac. So too was Jesus tempted by the offer of the whole world by Satan, but in reality it was a testing which he didn’t fail. In that sense, all temptations are tests. 

But why must we ask first in the Lord’s prayer not to be lured by evil and then not to give into it (and deliver us from evil).

Because evil requires so little effort and good so much of it. There is the field, full of a chaos of rocks and saplings and weeds. We see it and imagine what it would take to remove the stones, dig up the saplings and plow under the weeds. Then after that comes the sowing of seeds, irrigation and harvest. A great weariness ensues and there is a great temptation to do nothing.

Or someone you don’t know well is in need. You could go see her or bring a meal or… do nothing at all. And, truthfully, there is a kind of relief in that thought. If you don’t do anything, you have the day free. And no one will know that you have done nothing. That is the temptation of doing nothing — it never gets recorded. 

That’s why evil is easy and good, hard. Destruction is easy, creation is hard. To create something of true beauty can take a lifetime, destruction is a mere hammer blow.

Have you ever wondered why God rested after the creation. We don’t often think of God getting tired because we have imported ideas of omnipotence for God from certain philosophical constructs. But the enormity of the creation was undoubtedly hard work, even for God and the field for us is hard, and the caring for each other is hard. Good is hard.

So if you’ve been letting something slide, something hard — reconciliation, a visit, a word of forgiveness, a conversation, a favor, a cause, some great thing — do not be led into temptation but be delivered from the evil that is easy and be delivered to the good, which is hard. You will have gotten through the test stronger. And God will help you because he knows all about it.

-Daniel