Deliver us from evil is the culmination and a summary of the Lord’s Prayer. Some chilling news – evil is “live” spelled backwards. The ending in Greek indicates it is a male identity. Ie. He, the evil one or Satan. As I share in Going Spiritual, I did not really understand evil until I was hitchhiking through the battlefields of France. I realized evil is intentional destruction of human lives for no purpose or benefit– very different from “bad things” that happen by accident. In the Readings:
· Joel gives us an End Times warning and hope – destruction is coming - and God will send Jesus / Holy Spirit to deliver us
· Timothy Reading omits the very important warning about false teachers v.1-4 and then assures us that God will rescue the righteous from every evil attack–particularly by false teachers
· Jesus is teaching us that humility and repentance deliver us from the evil and the destruction of Spiritual pride
