Why should we ask God for help instead of striving for victory over temptations ourselves, if we can do all things? Why should we strive to live in righteousness when the ability to do so rests only in God’s hands?

The answer

St. Augustine says, “Only let no one dare to defend the freedom of the will in any such way as to attempt depriving us of the prayer that says, ‘Lead us not into temptation’; and, on the other hand, let no one deny the freedom of the will, and so venture to find an excuse for sin. But let us give heed to the Lord, both in commanding and in offering His aid; in both telling us our duty, and assisting us to discharge it. For some He has let be lifted up to pride through an overweening trust in their own wills, while others He has let fall into carelessness through a contrary excess of distrust … For, on the one side, we have to give Him thanks that the power is bestowed; and on the other, to pray that our own little strength may not utterly fail. It is this very faith that works by love (Gal. 5:6), according to the measure thereof that the Lord has given to every man (Rom. 12:3); that he that glories may glory, not in himself, but in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).”¹⁰⁶⁴

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty