God's Presence in Your Suffering

 By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts From Pastor Farms:

Seeing Christ's Bounty in the Afflictions of This Life

Good Morning,

As we come to a close in the Larger Catechism (only one more left!) we arrive at a long answer to a short question. Our divines are nothing if they are not exhaustive in the way they help us to understand, in this case, God’s word. We can complain sometimes, but the time we spend in thinking about what our Lord does for us are always rewarded. The matter at hand in this part of the Lord’s Prayer concerns daily life. While each of the petitions do that to an extent what Lead us not . . . desires to express is that the providence of God be ever on our mind.

When we wake in the morning and go to bed in the evening our plea is that our steps would be guided and guarded by the one who made Heaven and Earth. Simply as we ask to be preserved from the wiles of sin and saved from the designs of the evil one on our soul and body we are to keep in mind the promises of Psalm 23:2, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” These testimonies of blessing and safety are only available to the sheep who feed on grace through the shed blood of the Lamb. It’s why Jesus has given us this prayer that we might model our conversations with the Father based on our love for His care.

Here's the Q/A for today:

Q. 195. What do we pray for in the sixth petition?

A. In the sixth petition, (which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,) acknowledging, that the most wise, righteous, and gracious God, for divers holy and just ends, may so order things, that we may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations; that Satan, the world, and the flesh, are ready powerfully to draw us aside, and ensnare us; and that we, even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our corruption, weakness, and want of watchfulness, are not only subject to be tempted, and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations, but also of ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them, and to improve them; and worthy to be left under the power of them: we pray, that God would so over-rule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh, and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we and all his people may by his providence be kept from being tempted to sin; or, if tempted, that by his Spirit we may be powerfully supported and enabled to stand in the hour of temptation; or when fallen, raised again and recovered out of it, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof: that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet, and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil, for ever.

Continue here.