Tuesday, May 15, 2007

June 3 Matthew 6, "Deliver us from Evil"

In the Lord's prayer, we regularly pray "Deliver us from evil" (or "the Evil one"). How aware are we of the forces of evil in our time? Paul says that "we fight not against flesh and blood but against powers and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."(Ephesians 6) How aware of these spiritual influences are we?

D. H. Lawrence, as early as 1923 D. H. Lawrence, described the new spiritual atmosphere that was possessing (what would become Nazi) Germany:
"It is as if life had retreated eastwards. As if the Germanic life were slowly ebbing away from contact with western Europe, ebbing to the deserts of the east...
Returning again to the fascination of the destructive east, that produced Attila... at night you feel strange things stirring in the darkness, strange feelings stirring out of this still unconquered Black Forest. You stiffen your backbone and you listen to the night. There is a sense of danger. It is not the people. They don’t seem dangerous. Out of the very air comes a sense of danger, a queer, bristling feeling of uncanny danger.
Something has happened. Something has happened which has not yet eventuated. The old spell of the old world has broken, and the old, bristling, savage spirit has set in. . . . Something has happened to the human soul, beyond all help. . . . It is a fate; nobody now can alter it. . . . At the same time, we have brought it about ourselves—by a Ruhr occupation, by an English nullity, and by a German false will. We have done it ourselves. But apparently it was not to be helped." (Quoted from Walter Wink, "Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination." p. 53)

Have you experienced the evil one in your life? How and when? How does the evil get at you? What in your opinion are some of its main strategies? Your input is invited!

2 comments:

Linda Stam said...

Didn't you already preach on this as part of "lead us not into temptation (trials)" (May 6th)?

You covered Evil as not just the Evil One.

Bill Versteeg said...

Yes, I covered the temptation part and talked about God preserving us through times of trial. But we do face an enemy greater than we are. And I reserved comment about that till a future date.