Text: “O keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be
ashamed; for I put my trust in Thee.”
Psalm 25:20.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the
Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:13.
Good morning, Christ-delivered Christian! When
(not if!) you and I find ourselves overtaken by our faults; overwhelmed by our
weaknesses; self-ashamed of our straying into sin - that is the time to
remember that we have a Righteous Advocate, King Jesus Christ, to Whom we can
petition for the deliverance of our souls. Hallelujah! In
Him, we have, and shall always have, the Victory over our sins. Praise
and thanks be to the Lord God, Who always causes’ us to triumph - in Christ
Jesus. Glory to His Name!
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
(over sin) through Him that loved us…’ nothing ‘…shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans
8:37-39)
Verse 20. “O keep my
soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in Thee. Note the fact that the Psalmist here is calling out
for deliverance. He, no doubt, in need of deliverance from all evil; all
his worldly enemies; the evil wiles of the Devil; AND his own personal
weaknesses and propensities to SIN.
“Blessed is
the man/woman that endureth temptation; for when he/she is TRIED (tested),
he/she shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love Him.” ( James 1:12)
“...God is
faithful who will not suffer (i.e. allow) you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation also make a WAY of escape, that ye may be
able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
What are we asking
the Lord God when, in the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “Lead us not into
temptation...”? Are we saying, “Lord, please don’t put temptations to do
evil before us.”? Or, “Lord, I am trying to be Christ-like in my daily
life, please don’t tempt me to sin.”? Of course not! The Holy Lord
God will never tempt us to commit sin!
Scripture reveals
that, “...God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man/woman.”
(James 1:13)
Did not the Lord
Jesus Himself, when tempted of Satan in the wilderness, rebuke the foul tempter
with the written Word, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God.”? (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16)
The created Satan
could not presume to bring down his Creator God by pathetic temptations to do
things his disgusting way! He needs permission to tempt us.
God’s WAY is
perfect, and there is none else to compare with the Almighty - in power, in
righteousness, and in absolute Holiness. Amen! What an awesome
Lord God! Praise and worship His Name! (Psalm 89:5-8) (Isaiah
46:3-5)
The Devil and his
myrmidons, his ruthless helpers in the dark Spiritual plane, these are the
tempters; these are the enticers; these evil principalities and powers are the
Christian’s enemies - yea, even unto death! (Ephesians 6:11-13a)
When our old
carnal natures within are presented with temptations from the powers of evil,
or from the Devil’s children in this world - we are immediately faced with
decisions:
Shall I indulge
the fleshy nature within, or shall I resist the temptation and follow after the
Spirit of God instead? (Romans 8:1-7) (Ephesians 4:22-32)
“Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw
nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded…Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” (James 4:7-10)
Faithfulness to
the Living Lord God always receives a blessing from Heaven.
Unfaithfulness to the revealed will of our Holy Lord God always results in deep
grief of the Spirit of God within. Praise God, when we sin, we can be
sanctified afresh!
While God does not
tempt us with evil lures, He does permit the Devil to tempt us - but only in
order to strengthen our God-given faith. This is evidenced in the
Scriptural case of Job and other Old Testament believers. (Job 1:7-22) (Isaiah
48:10)
Verse 20. “O
keep my soul out of evil, and deliver me when I fall into it. This is another version of the prayer, ‘Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
Treasury of David, page 130)
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