“Deliver us from evil.” That’s a sound bite prayer, perfectly suited for these days. Hideous crimes…ever-present fear of terrorism…accidents and illness…brutal summer heat…and for many people simply a weariness of the rigors of life. “From evil, Lord, deliver us, the times and days are perilous.”
“Deliver us from evil.” This sound bite is prayed to a specific God. It’s not like people shouting out, “Oh my God!” when something terrible happens. “Deliver us from evil” is not shouted in shock to some generic God but prayed by believing children to “Our Father who art in heaven.” …to the Father who made us and assures us of His love in the Bible. …to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...to the Father in heaven, meaning He’s able to do eternally more than any earthly person…to “our” Father, meaning that no one frightened by what might happen or weary of the ordeal is alone; we children of the Father are together in prayer.
How He answers this prayer remains to be seen but it will be seen. Remember, it’s the “Lord’s” prayer, the resurrected Lord. Evil slowed Him down but didn’t defeat Him. One day we will be delivered. Isaiah had prophesied that a Savior would come who would “know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.” (Isaiah 50:4) Jesus comes today and gives us that word, “Deliver us from evil.”
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