"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL." Failures and follies should lead us to pray thus to our forgiving God, and teach us the necessity of closer walking with God. We need to be constantly upheld by divine power and to be guided by divine wisdom. We are prone to trust the arm of flesh. Many have fallen into sin; many do fall; we are as much exposed to temptations as they were, and are as liable to be overcome. Satan is watching us: his temptations are powerful, and our hearts are vulnerable. Let us therefore cry to the Lord for strength, and let it be our daily prayer, "Hold up my goings in Thy paths." In every duty, as well as in every trial, in the calm as well as in the storm, we need to be upheld: for unless the Lord uphold us, we shall fall into presumptuous sins, or into self-righteousness, into open sin, or secret backsliding. We are never safe but only as the Lord keeps us; and He keeps by showing us our weakness, our proneness to wander, and by leading us to walk before Him in faith and humility of mind. Beloved, if you are not daily seeking divine protection, you are in danger of being overcome. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

For Meditation:
Now, Holy Spirit, to my heart
Wisdom and holiness impart;
Uphold me by Thy mighty power
In every dark and dangerous hour.