Does God "Lead us into temptation"? John Piper, DesiringGod.com writes the following:
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13).
James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13).
That’s true. But the Bible also says, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).
So God does not do the tempting—he does not put evil desires in our hearts (for he can have no evil desires in his heart)—but he does bring us into the presence of many tests and temptations. “A man’s steps are from the Lord” (Proverbs 20:24).
In fact, every step we take is a step into the presence of temptation. There is no moment of your life that is not a moment of temptation—a moment when unbelief and disobedience is not a possibility.
The Lord’s prayer does not teach us to pray against that kind of sovereign guidance.
What it teaches us to pray is that the temptation does not take us in. Don’t lead me into temptation. Deliver me from this evil that is set before me.
Today I will stand before innumerable temptations. That’s what life is: endless choices between belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. But, O mighty God, forbid that I would yield. Hold me back from stepping inside the temptation.
Read his post here.
Here's another good post on BibleStudyTools.com on this challenging part of the Lord's prayer...
Does This Mean That God Leads People into Temptation?
The answer is yes.
And no.
The Spirit did lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil (Matthew 4:1). God led the nation of Israel to the point where they had the Red Sea on one side and the mightiest army in the world on the other (Exodus 14). It depends on the word you want to use, tempt or test. God does allow us to be placed in situations where we are tested (or tempted).
James deals with this complexity in the first chapter of his letter—we should rejoice that our faith is tested because it builds the character of Christ within us.
At the same time, James makes it clear that God doesn’t tempt us. James tells us what does tempt us—our own desires pull us away from the good path. Scripture calls that our “flesh,” our sinful nature. The Bible gives two other sources for temptation—the Devil and the World (Ephesians 2:1-3), the systems built by people with a sinful nature.
Read Britt Mooney's full post here.