Deliver Us From Evil

 

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Deliver us from evil.

-Matthew 6:13

This is the line of the Lord's Prayer I skipped on Sunday as I was leading our group recitation of this prayer that always ends our time of praying for one another and for the needs of the world.  I know it was just a brain blip, but now that verse is on my mind and I'm noticing in my psalm reading that deliverance from evil is a common request.

O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness;

    you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.

5 Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence,

    for you hate all who do evil.

6 You will destroy those who tell lies.

    The Lord detests murderers and deceivers.

7 Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house;

    I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.

8 Lead me in the right path, O Lord,

    or my enemies will conquer me.

Make your way plain for me to follow.

-Psalm 6:4-8

Of course, like I usually do, I went to the interlinear Bible to find the Greek words in Matthew 6:13.  Most of our Bible translations say "deliver" or "rescue," but the Greek word rhyomai can also mean "snatch for oneself."  I like the image of God snatching us away from evil, like a parent grabbing a child just before they fall into the river.  The word for "evil" in this verse, poneros, can also mean "toil" and "agony."  Imagine God's giant Monty Python-like hand pulling us away from a path that leads to agony because of quicksand or poison ivy or giant spiders or land mines.

I cannot find the spot now, but in the stories of the kings in 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles, or maybe in one of the prophets who give us analysis of those times, there is the idea that God's rescue from evil sometimes come through death, that God takes people to heaven to keep them from having to endure the evil that is to come. Paul in Romans 8:38-39 says that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God that we have in Jesus Christ, so why couldn't death be one way that God snatches us away from evil?

Psalm 121 talks about the constancy of God's protection over us:

God guards you from every evil,

    he guards your very life.

He guards you when you leave and when you return,

    he guards you now, he guards you always.

-Psalm 121:7-8 Message version

Eugene H. Peterson. in his book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (Kindle Location 248, Kindle Edition) points out that God is referred to as our guardian eight times in this psalm, an indication that God is not an "impersonal executive giving orders from on high; he is present help every step of the way we travel."

God is able to snatch us from evil because he is with us always in every moment.  That sounds redundant and I say it a lot in my writing and preaching, but I think that's because it's something we continuously forget and so often fail to believe.  Jesus said, "I am with you always" (Matt. 28:20), and that's probably the verse we quote the most, but there are many other places in the Bible where God promises to be a constant presence in our lives.

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

-Psalm 139:7-10 ESV

So even if we don't remember to pray "deliver us from evil," it's something God is always doing.

Thanks, God.