Lead Us Not

into temptation

I appreciate this prayer by Lady Jane Grey. I find one line particularly helpful. It is where she prays, “Suffer me not to be tempted above my power, but either be a deliverer unto me out of the great misery, or else give me grace patiently to bear your heavy hand and sharp correction.” I think she demonstrates wisdom in this.

First, she recognizes the limits of her own power to overcome temptation. This understanding naturally leads to the realization that she needs God’s help to overcome. Finally, she sees that God may deliver her from temptation or through temptation.

The prayer is also impressive in that its author, Lady Jane Grey, caught up in the political struggles of her times, was executed while still in her teens.

O merciful God, consider my misery, best known unto you; and be now unto me a strong tower of defense, I humbly request you. Suffer me not to be tempted above my power, but either be a deliverer unto me out of this great misery, or else give me grace patiently to bear your heavy hand and sharp correction. It was your right hand that delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh, which for the space of four hundred years did oppress them, and keep them in bondage; let it therefore likewise seem good to your fatherly goodness to deliver me, sorrowful wretch, for whom you son Christ shed his precious blood on the cross, out of this miserable captivity and bondage, wherein I am now.

Amen.