Most of us are probably familiar with the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “But deliver us from evil.” Just as many of us are probably familiar with Luther’s explanation for it, from the Small Catechism. In the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer we are asking God to “deliver us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation.” That’s simple enough: we all know what it means. One question is created by the Seventh Petition, however: ‘why do we need to be delivered from evil?’ A common presumption among Christians is that no evil should befall them. Why? – because they are Christians. Since they are Christians, and if God was doing His job, no evil would befall them. Therefore, they would never need to be delivered from evil (their logic being, ‘why would God need to deliver them from something that He should be protecting them from?’). Their argument is both logical and reasonable. It’s too bad that their logic and reason can’t deliver them from evil. Only God can do that. The question still remains, however: ‘why do we need to be delivered from evil?’
‘Why does evil befall us?’ – because the world is an evil, sin-filled place. The Apostle Luke says it very concisely in the Book of Acts: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Life is that simple. The world in which we live is not perfect. Thus, our earthly lives will not be perfect. The bottom line is that we must endure imperfection, sin and evil throughout our earthly journey until we pass through the gates of heaven when our earthly lives come to an end.
‘What if we prayed more,’ would that help? No matter how much we pray, evil will still befall us. ‘What if our faith was stronger,’ would that help? No matter how much faith we have (not that this is an issue: either you have faith or you don’t), evil will still befall us. ‘How can this be? I thought God loved us?’ He does. Sometimes (not always, but sometimes) God allows evil to come into our lives. ‘Why would He do that to us? I thought we were His children?’ That’s the reason, exactly. God disciplines those who believe in Him (and only those who believe in Him. This is the reason why ‘bad things happen to good people’ and ‘good things happen to bad people.’ God will allow an unbeliever to sin his way right into hell. God won’t allow you to do that). God sometimes allows evil to befall us in order to keep us on the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life. Consider this Proverb of Solomon: “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
‘Why does evil befall us?’ There are a number of reasons why there is evil in the world. There are even more reasons why evil happens to us. Remember this, however: God loves us and will never let us become separated from Him. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and to bring us to eternal life. God will do whatever is necessary to keep us on the path that leads to eternal life in heaven with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The journey through our sin-filled world may also be filled with evil, but it eventually ends when we get to heaven.
