“Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
-Collect for the First Sunday in Lent
In the traditional rendering of the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to “lead us not into temptation.” In this Sunday’s collect we say that the “Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted.” So which is it, does God or doesn’t he lead into temptation?
Thankfully, there are two versions of the Lord’s Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. Biblical scholars maintain that the more accurate translation is “save us from the time of trial.” The difference in meaning highlights that God tests and the adversary tempts. God’s trials are designed to prove and strengthen; the enemy wants to destroy us.
In his Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, the Puritan writer Thomas Brooks likens the devil to a fisherman. He writes that the enemy tempts us by presenting bait, but hiding the hook. The bait is the initial short-term pleasure gained from capitualing to sin, and the hidden hook is the long-term consequence that assaults and entraps us.
While, at times, succumbing to temptation can feel like a weekend vacation, in the season of Lent we’re encouraged to see sin’s ugliness afresh. A friend of mine maintains it’s grossness by thinking of sin as a porta-potty. As a long-distance runner, he’s spent a lot of time in mobile toilets, and, in case you forgot, he calls them the most disgusting place on earth. You want to get in-and-out as fast as possible.
Now imagine someone saying they love porta-potties. They enjoy bringing books inside and reading for hours. This would be like making your home in a place of death. It’s a picture of what Brooks called the long-term consequence of the enemy’s hidden hook.
Ultimately, as good as it is knowing that sin isn’t harmless, it won’t keep us from capitulating to temptation. We are being “assaulted by many temptations.” The strongman is at war against us. We need more than knowledge, we need rescue. God “knows the weaknesses of each of us,” and he alone can deliver us.
Only he had the power to pass every test and withstand every temptation, so we pray “come quickly to help us” you who are “mighty to save.” Enable us to see sin not as a weekend in Cabo but for the porta-potty it is.