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Small Catechism Review
The Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer
In any need, in any trouble, facing any hardship or any dire situation, there are two little prayers a Christian can always pray, two little prayers that capture and beautifully summarize everything we might ask of our Father in heaven. The first is, Lord, have mercy! The second is the 7th petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Our Father, Deliver us from evil! Two short prayers that take all our needs in this life and lump them all together in one simple but profound request. At another time, we’ll talk more about “Lord, have mercy!” This evening, our focus is the 7th Petition.
The 7th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer is, as Luther says, a summary of the first six petitions.
Deliver us from evil.
What does this mean?
We ask in this prayer, in summary, that the Father in heaven would deliver us from every sort of evil of body and soul, of property and honor; and finally, when our last hour comes, grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
So, from what evils are we praying for deliverance?
We pray, Hallowed be Thy name! Deliver us from the evil of false doctrine and from the evil of bringing shame and disgrace to Your name, O Father in heaven, by leading ungodly lives as those who call ourselves Christians. Deliver us from the evil of blasphemy!
We pray, Thy kingdom come! Deliver us from the evil of perishing outside of Your kingdom, from the evil of being trapped in the devil’s kingdom, from the evil of being without Your Holy Spirit, from the evil of not knowing You rightly, from the evil of following the devil as our king instead of Christ Jesus, Your dear Son, who gave Himself for us so that we might live under Him in His kingdom.
We pray, Thy will be done! Deliver us from the evil of falling into the hands of the devil, the world, and our flesh! Deliver us from the evil of carrying out the devil’s will by loveless behavior, by rushing into sin, by distrusting Your good and gracious will for us, and for the Church, and for the world.
We pray, Give us this day our daily bread! Deliver us from the evil of scarcity and want, from the evil of not having what we need for today, from the evil of storm and tempest, from the evil of bad government and ungodly rulers, from the evil of going through this life without the companionship we need.
We pray, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us! Deliver us from the evil of living under Your just condemnation for our sins! Deliver us from the evil of falling away from faith in Christ, from the evil of becoming Your enemy again, from the evil of losing the life and salvation You gave us when we were baptized in Your name! And deliver us from the evil of holding a grudge against those who have sinned against us and from the evil of losing Your forgiveness by despising Your forgiveness in failing to forgive others.
We pray, And lead us not into temptation! Deliver us from the evil of giving in to the temptations of the devil, the world, and our flesh! Deliver us from the evil of false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice! Deliver us from the evil of growing bitter under the cross! Deliver us from the evil of crumbling under adversity and from being defeated by our enemies instead of standing victorious in the end!
So, you see, that little prayer, Deliver us from evil!, really does cover just about every evil or bad thing we may encounter in this world. When you see the world crumbling, Deliver us from evil! When you think about all the things that threaten, Deliver us from evil! When you feel the weight of this world’s darkness pressing down on you, turn to our Father in heaven and pray, Deliver us from evil!
And He will. He’ll do it in any number of ways. He may keep some evil from touching you at all. He may lessen its effect on you or strengthen you sufficiently, so that you can bear up under it. He may take the evil away after allowing you to be tested for just long enough. And finally, He will take you out of this evil world entirely, out of this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven, where no evil is allowed to enter, ever.
Lord, have mercy! Deliver us from evil! Those are two good little prayers to say at any time. They go right along with that third little prayer, our regular Advent prayer, that’s also always relevant: Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.
