Matthew 6:11-13 NIVUK
[11] Give us today our daily bread. [12] And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ”
A friend of mine bought a house. It was quite a nice house, but that wasn’t why he bought it.
He wanted the land.
He then proceeded to demolish the house and built a new one according to his specifications. He lived in it for a few years. However, his wife’s health deteriorated to the point where she could no longer manage the internal stairs, so they put the house on the market, sold it for a tidy profit, and moved into a nice apartment in a beautiful area, paid for by the profits from the house.
You might think that this is a strange way to start a post on prayer.
Well, like my friend, Jesus has seen all that the model for prayer in His day had to say, and then He has taken a huge bulldozer to it and demolished it. He has razed it to the ground.
No longer is it about looking pious in front of others or about twisting God’s arm to get what you want – in fact, it’s not really about you at all.
That might leave us staring at the bare constriction site that used to be our prayer life and scratching our heads in sheer bewilderment, asking, ‘If that’s what prayer isn’t, then what is it?’
It’s now that we see Jesus begins to rebuild it back up again.
As He does so, I think it’s important to have in mind His later teaching:
Matthew 11:28-30 NIVUK
[28] ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
In other words, prayer should not be a burdensome ritual, the way it is for some. Prayer instead should be the means of us bringing our burdens to Jesus, laying them down at the foot of the Cross, and leaving them there.
Prayer must be about letting go.
In that case, what Jesus is doing here is highlighting three burdens of which we should let go that are too heavy for us to bear. The fact that they are listed here in this prayer makes these the most important burdens of which Jesus wants us to let go.
What are they?
Global mission?
The environment?
World peace?
No. None of these.
And that might surprise us.
Instead, they are three more humdrum, work-a-day burdens that we all have to carry at some point, but which someday will become much to heavy for us to bear.
The first of these is Provision:
Matthew 6:11 NIVUK
[11] Give us today our daily bread.
This image of ‘daily bread’ comes from God’s strange provision of manna in the Sinai Desert.
Exodus 16:14-18 NIVUK
[14] When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. [15] When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. [16] This is what the Lord has commanded: “Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.” ’ [17] The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. [18] And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
This was just remarkable. Think about it: bread provided in the desert for a million people.
There are fewer miracles, short of resurrection from the dead, that are more incredible.
Yet it did not take them long to despise this strange and miraculous provision:
Numbers 11:4-6 NIVUK
[4] The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. [6] But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!’
God had given them their freedom, but they wanted better food.
Isn’t this just what happens? God provides for us – sometimes miraculously – but we aren’t happy and want more?
We need to read this verse and understand it properly. Jesus tells us to pray for our daily bread, not our daily buffet; for a basic staple, not a luxury meal; for what we need, not what we want.
We are not supposed to pray to be rich. King Lemuel spoke great wisdom when he said this:
Proverbs 30:7-9 NIVUK
[7] ‘Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: [8] keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. [9] Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.
Now, I know what this means. I grew up in a family that struggled to make ends meet and put food on the table. But somehow, God always provided for us.
I’ll tell you something else too: God’s provision does not mean that we don’t have to work to receive it. God did not tell them to lie down outside so He could rain the manna directly into their mouth – they had to go and gather it (Exodus 16:17). This was a form of work.
How do we know?
Because they were not supposed to do it on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:22-30).
Later on, in the New Testament, we see these words:
2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIVUK
[10] For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’
Sometimes God provides miraculously.
Sometimes He provides us with the means to provide for ourselves, or for success in our endeavours to obtain food.
I have seen both. Both are equally true and valid.
Both are answers to this prayer.
But this prayer is not just about provision. It goes on to talk about Absolution:
Matthew 6:12 NIVUK
[12] And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
There are two ways to look at this verse. Both of them are very, very challenging.
The first is the literal one – that Christians should cancel and forgive debts. This is part of Jewish tradition: all debts were cancelled in the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-55). Slaves were also released, and this verse, which is very striking for a modern audience, compares debt to slavery:
Proverbs 22:7 NIVUK
[7] The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
But it is true: debt reduces the borrower to servitude to the lender.
So what is the solution?
Avoid all unnecessary debt and don’t offer debt to your brother or sister in Christ – if they are in need, simply help them out. Don’t set up a situation where you will gain financially from their predicament and don’t pursue them for the debt to be repaid.
Simple.
But there is a further, very challenging, way of looking at this, and that is figuratively. It’s to this that Jesus refers later on:
Matthew 6:14-15 NIVUK
[14] For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Now, we have a substantial challenge on our hands.
The concept of the word ‘forgive’ is that of ‘to release’ or ‘to send away’. It means that we no longer hold against people the wrong they have done from us, we lift the charge from above their head and we let them go.
That is always a hard thing to do. The more serious the crime, the harder it is.
Yet we must do it. We have no choice in the matter.
And the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35) tells us why. We have been forgiven by God. We have been forgiven for often pretty heinous sins – sins so great that if we had been the only person in the world, Jesus Christ would still have died on the cross. Our sins cost Jesus His terrible wounds and His life.
Can you honestly gaze upon that love-scarred body of His, broken for your sins, right into His eyes, and tell Him that you can’t forgive your brother or sister or friend?
Let’s look at it this way. The darkness and bitterness and sense of injustice is a bit like an electrical storm. When I was in my early twenties, I was serving as a short term missionary in the Romanian city of Mediaș when I had the privilege of watching an electrical storm pass over the apartment block where I was staying. I ran into the apartment block when I could feel the air getting cooler and see the sky darkening. I saw lightning strike the historic Hungarian church opposite my apartment. It was spectacular. But the church wasn’t damaged at all. There was a metal rod – a lightning conductor – that channelled the massive electrical charge into the ground and saved the building from being destroyed.
When we fail to forgive, that storm of bitterness and injustice does not strike the person who wronged us. No, they feel nothing. It only strikes us: the victims of whatever they have done.
The bitterness and injustice has to go somewhere.
Forgiveness is like the lightning conductor. It channels the bitterness and injustice safely away from us, preventing further damage.
But where does it go?
God will see that justice is done.
Romans 12:17-19 NIVUK
[17] Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. [18] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. [19] Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.
Hebrews 10:30-31 NIVUK
[30] For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ [31] It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
If they have not come under the grace of God, they will face that justice and vengeance full force on their own.
If they have come under the grace of God, then the bitterness and injustice will be channelled to the cross.
Either way, justice will be done.
Either way, we must forgive and leave justice in these matters to God.
Hebrews 12:15 NIVUK
[15] See to it that no-one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
However, I also believe that if a criminal offence has been perpetrated against you, you must forgive it, but you must also take it to the authorities – not because you are bitter and vengeful, but because it is your civic duty to ensure it doesn’t happen to anyone else, and it is your duty before God to aid the authorities in the duties they have before God (Romans 13:1-5).
Forgiveness is an absolute necessity for mental and spiritual health. Grudges are the absolute opposite: they are nothing but poison. That is why God’s people are commanded not to bear them:
Leviticus 19:18 NIVUK
[18] ‘ “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.
But Jesus goes further – much further. He makes a connection between how we forgive others and how we expect God to forgive us:
Mark 11:25 NIVUK
[25] And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’
Matthew 6:14-15 NIVUK
[14] For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 7:12 NIVUK
[12] So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
And this creates a huge challenge:
Do we expect God to forgive our sins?
Are we willing to forgive the sins that other people have committed against us?
Yes, it is a big thing, but we have a big God.
And the journey towards forgiveness begins with prayer.
So we have seen two of the three things that Jesus thinks are top priorities for us to pray about: provision and absolution.
The final one is Temptation:
Matthew 6:13 NIVUK
[13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ”
Now, this verse should cause us to scratch our head.
Why?
Because it says this in James:
James 1:13-17 NIVUK
[13] When tempted, no-one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. [16] Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. [17] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
So James – the Lord’s brother – says that God neither can be tempted nor tempts, and that temptation comes within, yet Jesus tells us to pray that God would not lead us into temptation.
What is happening here?
James elsewhere uses the same word as Jesus to refer to the testing of our faith through trials, such as persecution or difficulties (James 1:12). He uses a slightly different word, from the same root, in James 1:13-17.
I believe that what is saying is that there are two types of temptation: moral temptation, where we are tempted to do wrong, and spiritual temptation, where we are tempted to give up and walk away.
The writer to the Hebrews seems to have the same idea, when he writes:
Hebrews 12:1-3 NIVUK
[1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, [2] fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [3] Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The desire to sin comes from a moral temptation. The desire to be ensnared in the things that so easily entangle us is a spiritual temptation.
Moral temptation – the temptation to sin – comes from inside us. We are responsible for it.
Spiritual temptation comes when trials come and life becomes unrelentingly difficult.
Jesus telling us to pray that God would not lead us into times of spiritual temptation. This happened to people in the Bible. Job, for example (Job 1:20-22, 2:9-10). And David (1 Samuel 30:6). As well as Elijah (1 King’s 19:3-4).
This is real. It is very real.
The Lord’s Prayer is that we would be delivered from it.
And not just it, but the one behind it.
After all, who was it who was behind Job's trials?
Satan.
And who was who was behind Jesus’ temptation (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13)?
Satan.
But here’s the thing: only one of the temptations Jesus faced was morally wrong. Just one: the temptation to worship satan.
All of them, however, were aimed at getting Jesus to abandon God’s plan for His life and take a shortcut to greatness.
And therein lies the temptation Jesus told us to pray about. Not just, or even necessarily, the temptation to do something morally wrong. He has already given us the key to avoiding that particular temptation (Matthew 5:29-30).
No, this temptation is the temptation to leave God’s side and accept lesser, if easier, ways of life.
This part of the prayer is focused on our current and future relationship with God. It is focused on us being strong in the strength God provides to remain standing when trouble comes and to be delivered from it by God.
What we are asking God to do is keep His side of the bargain:
1 Corinthians 10:13 NIVUK
[13] No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
We keep ours by finding the exit from temptation and not giving in.
I went through a period of constant back problems. It is quite annoying, and sometimes downright debilitating, when you pass through a time like that. While other people can pass through life pain free, your vulnerable back can be put out while doing the most mundane activities, such as picking something up from a kitchen drawer or lying in a bad position or sneezing in the shower.
For other people, these activities are insignificant. They are nothing. But for you, they are a potential source of injury.
Perhaps in reading about these three fear-causing parts of life, you’ve scoffed and thought to yourself, ‘I’m not afraid of them! Why has Jesus chosen them for us to pray about specifically? There are far bigger problems in the world!’
And there were big problems even when Jesus taught His disciples to pray this prayer.
But it doesn’t mean that Jesus was wrong to ask us to pray this way. Provision, absolution and temptation are elements of life that damage our resilience and eat away like termites at the very foundations of our faith and inner strength. They directly affect our ability to cope with everything life throws at us.
That is why we must bring them to God in prayer and let go of them.
We must do our part. We must let God do His.
That is what prayer is really all about.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, this is quite a challenge for me. Help me to do my part: to work to provide for myself and my family, to forgive those who have hurt me and to avoid sources of temptation. But help me to not be afraid of these things. Help me to bring them to You and leave them there and not be intimidated into abandoning You. Amen.
Questions
1. What are the things that Jesus asked us to pray about for ourselves? Why did He tell us to pray about them?
2. Which of these three causes you the most concern?
3. How has this changed your approach to prayer?
Commentaires