Deliver us from evil

 

This blog is a rewrite of the last piece in a series on the Lord’s prayer done some years ago.

 I hope it comes to us all freshly!

 

The Lord’s prayer is nothing less than Jesus himself teaching us to pray. This is like being given a bar of gold—to have our Lord, who knows the Father, and who is now our Advocate with him, showing us how we may approach the living God.

And now, as the prayer closes, we, who have prayed for the Father’s honour and kingdom and will, and who are content to trust our daily needs to him, are deeply aware of sin. Those of the past we have asked him to forgive.

But what about the future? Anyone with any self-knowledge will know that the battle is not over yet. So, here is how we can pray. ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’

We’re asking God to take pre-emptive action with regard to where he leads us, and we’re asking him to secure a good result—to deliver us.

Let us be clear that this is no mere correct formula to get a right result. As with all the previous requests, this is a felt need and a longing of our whole being. ‘I don’t want to sin!’ And I want Christ’s victory over sin to be evident in my own life!’ We have an amazing relationship with our Maker, Father and Redeemer, and we don’t want anything to get in the road of it!

Living in this world isn’t simple. We’re in a battle. Satan has mounted a frontal attack. The world that has been shaped by him is providing a structure that makes sinning convenient. And our own fallen nature still includes lots that can drift, or even surge, into what is wrong.

But we can pray! And we can ask that we not be led into trials or temptations.[i]

Of course, as Jesus explains, trials are inevitable, and necessary. From Adam onwards, God has wanted to know what is in our heart[ii], and this involves situations where we have to choose him rather than ourselves.

Think of Job. God lets Satan entice Job to sin with his lips—to curse God. But God has a purpose in allowing this, even though Job never discovers what it is. He wants Satan to know that Job loves him for who he is and not because of how much he gets out of it.

Think of Jesus himself. The Spirit drives him into a wilderness where he is tempted by Satan.[iii] Again, there is a battle to be won here that Israel has failed and that Jesus will win. He will forge a new human obedience, even under trial.

Think of Peter. He will deny his Lord. Jesus doesn’t pray that Peter won’t fail. He prays that his faith won’t fail.[iv] His disciple needs to know how frail he is. But he also needs to know how God will keep him in faith through it all.

But if we understand the forces that are marshalled against us, and have come to understand the secret complicity of our own hearts in this war, we won’t relish the battle. Basically, we’re asking God to keep our struggles manageable.

So, God, in his wisdom, will allow us to pass through these times so that we may glorify him. But he won’t let the trial be beyond us![v] Paul explains that we share the same battle as everyone else, and assures us that God will create an escape route in the midst of the trial so we may be able to bear it.

Here’s some examples.

Jesus encourages the disciples who share Gesthemane with him, to ‘watch and pray so that you may not enter into temptation.[vi] Like them, our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak.

And then, when Jesus is being arrested, he tells the soldiers to take him and let his disciples go.[vii] He knows their limit and steers them out of the way of trouble.

Jesus has earlier warned that Jerusalem will fall, and encourages followers to pray that their flight will not be in winter or on a Sabbath.[viii] He doesn’t want their life to be any more difficult than it will be.

And Jesus is doing the same now, at the right hand of God. He speaks to the Philadelphian church who have ‘kept [his] word about patient endurance’. He will keep them ‘from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole earth’.[ix]

This ‘way of escape’ may be many things. We won’t know what it is until it happens, or when we look back at what has happened.

So, when we ask that we not be led into temptation, we’re acknowledging our frailty, but we’re trusting his faithfulness, and moving on confidently.

The other part of our prayer is to ask God to deliver us from evil (or sinning), or from the evil one—that is, Satan. It comes back to a similar thing because Satan doesn’t just want to harm us. He wants to get us sinning like himself.

And now, Jesus has come among us to destroy the works of the Devil. And he’s saved us with a view to ruining our appetite for sin and making us accomplices in his project! So, we’re not just asking to be delivered from the results of evil but from doing it.

If we understand what our Lord is teaching us here, our prayer will be heartfelt! We want the same result as Jesus Christ. But we’re not volunteering as heroes. We’re offering ourselves to a gracious Father, and it’s important for us to know that he knows what we can handle, and how to get us through our trials.

I’m always nervous when Christians are challenged to rise up and do this or that. It can appeal to our ego and desire to prove ourselves. Let’s face it. We’re not up to it. We’re weak. We succeed by getting help from above. And the more we know our weakness, the better the result will be!

James does tell us that we can rejoice when trials arrive.[x] But the reason for our joy is not our success. It’s finding out that our faith has grown, and it’s this testing of faith (and our prayer of faith) that produces steadfastness.

So, as Hebrews tells us, we should ask God to help us act wisely, and believe he will do this for us. It is in this way that we will remain steadfast under trial and receive the crown of life.

Well, this prayer has encouraged us to enjoy all of who God is and what he will do, but also to trust him with our very life, including the frailty of our own faith.

So, in the words Paul writes to the Thessalonians, ‘…may the God if peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.’[xi]

[i] The Greek word (peirasmos) can mean temptation or trial. God doesn’t tempt anyone, so trial is probably the best translation, but then, God does lead us through waters in which Satan may attack.

[ii] Deut. 8:2

[iii] Mark 1:12-13

[iv] Luke 22:31-32

[v] 1 Cor. 10:13

[vi] Matt. 26:41; Luke 22:40, 46

[vii] John 18:8-9

[viii] Matt. 24:20

[ix] Rev. 3:8-10

[x] Jam. 1:2-12

[xi] 1 Thes. .5:23-24