Deliver Us From Evil

We pray this line, often, as we say the Lord's Prayer.  We ask that God would deliver us from evil, from the Evil One, from the one who would incite such awful acts as witnessed in Connecticut last week.  The pain and heartbreak this continues to cause is overwhelming from so many different aspects.

And the tragedy hits close to home.  The pain of this event is so hard because it happened to children, because it happened to children who were supposed to be in a 'safe place.'

One of the lines that stood out to me this past weekend was a quote from Mr. (Fred) Rogers.  It seems applicable to any crisis, but maybe more appropriate since this crisis involved children.  He said,
     "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to  me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”"  

There were helpers in Sandy Hook.  There are helpers for us, as well.

I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child, and yet it seems like too many parents, do.  It is not natural to bury a child.  Many children die every day from many different causes: cancer, malnutrition, other diseases, car accidents, violence... We pray for deliverance from evil whether it applies to a whole country in mourning, or rather just one family or individual who is in pain.  I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child, but God can.  Jesus was his only son, and yet each of those twenty children where God's children, as well.  Every child.

The same prayer that contains "deliver us from evil" also contains "Thy will be done."  God did not want this event to happen, and He grieves the loss of every child.  Martin Luther wrote explanations to each part of the Lord's Prayer, and he says that praying the phrase "Thy will be done" is not a magic formula for causing God's will to be done - it's going to happen whether we pray or not.  Instead, when we pray, we are asking that we can be part of God's will being done here on Earth.

May God's will be done - through each one of us.

Concordia Publishing House