“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-13
God the Father delivers us from the evil one. He protects us from Satan doing even worse things to us than he already does. In Job, God only allowed Satan to do certain things to Job (so that Job’s faith might increase and Satan be defeated). Revelation 12 talks about how John was shown the time when Satan was cast to the earth. Since then, he was and is active in venting his hatred for God by attacking God’s creation.
The “evil one” is real. So is the evil he creates. I think of evil as the further expression of sin. If sin is any rebellion against God, then evil is the consequence of that rebellion. It is murder; it is sexual abuse. It is our government lying, the Holocaust, communist torture camps, bullies who hurt kids, and eating ketchup on a hot dog (ok, maybe not that one). Evil happens when sin gives birth to more sin. Evil is the work of Satan and it starts in his wicked heart.
Then it takes root in ours. So many people say, “if there is a God, why does He allow evil?” Good question. Ask Him, not me. Maybe the better question is, “because evil is real, why do we allow it?” God is holy; He doesn’t allow evil in His character. Why should we? Why should we allow it or encourage it or promote it? Waiting to God to stop evil means you (and I) tolerate it…be careful because that seems a lot like sin.t
Enter God. Let Him enter our lives. How does God deliver us from evil (and the evil one)? https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-does-god-deliver-us-from-evil gives an excellent, common-sense explanation. God defeats evil by giving us the tools to fight it off. God’s Word, His followers, His people: God gives us tools of faith and knowledge because filling ourselves with those hedges protection around our hearts. Yes, we can resist evil. Yes, we can overcome temptations and desires. Yes, we can change our ways.
No, we can’t do any of those things on our own, and God doesn’t ask us to. Only by steeping ourselves in applying Scripture can we fight evil as God intended us to fight it. None of this is easy, and Jesus didn’t promise us that it’d be easy. Instead, He promised to abide with us, to be with us until the end of time so that we might see God defeat evil and the evil one forever.
For more reading: Job 1 and 2, Matthew 13:19, Revelation 12:9, Matthew 6:14
Deliver me from evil today, Father. Fight through me in this life.
Practical Proverbs 