Deliver us from evil
It is well known that the Lord Jesus taught his followers – in the Lord’s Prayer – to pray, “Deliver us from evil.” (It could also be translated, “Deliver us from the evil one”, but it comes to much the same thing since all evil finds its source in the evil one, the devil). We may even pray that prayer every Sunday. And it is a grand thing to pray for. Who doesn’t want to be delivered from evil? After all, evil is the source of all our problems, and there is certainly plenty of it to be delivered from! So, isn’t it exciting to know that there will be a day when we will be finally, totally and permanently free of all evil?
But what is this evil and, more poignantly, where is it to be found? There is evil ‘out there’ in the world, but there is also evil ‘in here’ in my heart. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the Bible recognizes both. For example, the psalmist asks for God’s mercy, explaining, “For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see” (Psalm 40:12). Notice that there is evil without (“troubles without number”) as well as evil within (“my sins”). He is both sinned against and himself a sinner – and we are no different. That is what it is to be a human being in this world.
To be delivered from evil, then, means that I will no longer suffer evil from others, nor do evil myself. It is wonderful beyond words to be forgiven my sins. This, if anything, is still more wonderful: to be in a place where evil will not even be possible.
Chris Hobbs