Never has such a post seemed so timely — and yet it happens to be the final phrase we’re studying in the Lord’s Prayer!

DELIVER US FROM EVIL. 

Worldwide, people are asking this question — Where is God during all these evil attacks & acts of wickedness?

Where was He at Benghazi?
Where was He when a man drove through a sea of people in Nice, France?
What about the night of the deadly, coordinated Paris attacks?
Or in the plethora of terrible bombings & explosions in the Middle East?? Oklahoma City? The Twin Towers?
Where was He at Columbine? Virginia Tech? The Colorado theatre?
Why didn’t He protect Natalee Holloway… or Caylee Anthony… or JonBenet?
Even closer to home… Where is He when children are abused, babies murdered in utero, or when a spouse beats their husband/wife?

Evil is all around. It’s amazing to me that, despite all evidence to the contrary, people still claim people are “inherently good”. If this were so, humanity’s track record wouldn’t consist of frequent chaos, mass murders, abuse, neglect, drug deals, & mean kids on the playground.

The reality is this — evil exists all around us ,and even in us. It’s an appalling thought, but one that anyone who’s ever honestly wrestled with their own flesh, selfish motives, & vindictive behavior realized: We all have the capacity to do bad things. Some of us do them more than others.

If we want evil to lose its grip on the world, we must allow Him to change us first.

I am thankful by God’s grace to have come to know Jesus as a toddler. It’s one of my earliest memories!! Amazing. I am grateful to my parents for asking me if I wanted to receive Him & for leading me through the prayers of opening my heart to God.

I also remember time & time again His Spirit leading me, warning me, & checking me as I grew up. He would give me red flags about certain people that later proved to be true. He would steer my heart towards kindness & compassion when people around me were judgey, mean-spirited, & unkind. I don’t claim to be a perfect person, but now as an adult, I realize I had the fruit of the Spirit in my life even from a very young age.

This fruit was a product of Jesus’s presence in my life, of a heart given over to Him. Did I later reject Him? Sure. Choosing His will is a daily — if not moment-by-moment — decision. But His wisdom, guidance, protection & leading were still markers throughout my upbringing. My parents certainly instilled a great moral compass in us, but introducing us to God & His Spirit are the things that changed my life the most.

Yet God has still shown me that when I refuse Him, the only leftovers I have to offer the world are things contrary to His nature: Selfish behavior, apathy, proclivity for judgment and pride, and anything anathema to His heart.

This is the state of our world today. Many have rejected Him, including in America. A country that once found its roots in Him now outright rejects Him — and what do we find is the state of America today? Chaos. Coldheartedness. Absolute depravity & rejection of the truth from our highest leaders. Thievery from Wall Street to the White House on down to many of our neighborhoods. Morality is mocked — the same morals that paved the streets of this country with peace and freedom in decades past. People now call good ‘evil’ and evil ‘good’.

LOOKING OUT FOR #1

Our country isn’t what it once was, all because we’re shunning God’s GOODNESS for the enemy’s EVIL. We’re embracing the lie that “I can do whatever I want & it won’t hurt anyone.” Ask children of alcoholics, or victims of pedophilia, or spouses of adulteresses, or family members of compulsive liars if these lifestyles are harmless. While I’m not mad at these people, they must look past their own self-serving desires to realize how very much their choices affect the people who love them.

The crass coworker affects the whole team. The angry man in line at the store disrupts order & causes chaos. The Dad who breaks his promises breaks his kids heart, again, for the 20th time.

Just last week, I witnessed two shoplifters running from a popular shopping store right here in Tampa Bay — apparently it wasn’t their first time, yet I watched them jump in their van & get away with it. These two think they’re providing for their families or taking what “belongs to them” (how they conclude that, I’ll never know)… but in reality, they’re stealing from others & hurting that store’s margins. Honest shoppers like you & I pay the price for their thievery. Sadly, stores have to add extra cost into their prices to account for thieves.

We pay the price, and so do store owners. These shoplifters also set a bad example for the people around them — kids at the store who see them lift as well as their kids at home who learn how mom & dad can afford such nice things for them.

Evil is all around. It’s disgusting — and it should be. So many are pontificating online about what’s “right” & “wrong” when these same people reject God’s law. But we can’t have it both ways: There either is a higher moral authority or there isn’t. Otherwise there’s no other basis on which to draw moral lines in the sand. Robbers & adulterers & alcoholics & everyday selfish people could simply point to the law of “Survival of The Fittest” to defend their behavior. After all, they’d say, the bigger & more powerful should win against the poor & weak, right? We all have to survive and “Look out for #1”, don’t we?

GOD’S MORAL AUTHORITY

But something in us says NO! This isn’t right. That something is the Lord, leading us towards His truth. He tells us, You can’t live your own way without hurting others. There’s no such thing as ‘relative truth’. You & I aren’t good enough inherently to dictate moral law. Only God, a pure & supreme Spirit without vice, can decide what’s good & what’s wrong.

The people who buck Him, the suicide bombers and corrupt politicians and backstabbing best friends are all showing us why we need Jesus in the first place. Without Him, evil prevails. I am SO THANKFUL I had the privilege to grow up in an America before terrorist attacks & public shootings became weekly headlines. The reason why? Because we still were clinging to “Our religion” and letting His Spirit have His way in our hearts.

Without Him, we don’t know what evils we’ll succumb to.

Lord, please deliver us from evil. We may not deserve it, but we need it. 

We confess that the propensity towards evil starts in HUMAN HEARTS {like our own}. But thank You that You don’t leave us that way — when we invite You into our hearts, You CHANGE THEM & give us new desires in line with Yours! 

Help us choose You every day to bring YOUR goodness & YOUR nature into this world. Help Your people to shine like diamonds on earth — not because of us, Lord, but because You live in us.

Help the world see that we have no good apart from You & Your presence in our lives. Show the world who You are. Not to us but to Your name be the glory.

In Jesus’s name… amen.