Giving Up Control

As part of our upcoming Lent series, I'm reflecting right now on what it means to give up control in our lives in order to live in faith and trust in God. I just remembered a little scene from my childhood.

When I was really little and my family went to amusement parks, my dad and sister would ride the big roller coasters, and my mom would accompany me to the kiddie rides. Everybody got what they wanted. I’ll never forget the first time I rode a big roller coaster with my dad and sister. I was terrified. I kept rising up out of the seat as we would speed over hills and get thrown side to side on the crazy curves. Instead of holding the top of the safety bar, I held underneath to try to keep myself still in the seat. It was miserable and terrifying. During the long recovery, I told my dad what I just told you. He told me that the whole point of a roller coaster is to move your body in every direction, but that it’s safe. What felt to me like being out of control was actually the intended sensation. My attempts at control were actually the cause of my anxiety and stomach ache.

How often don't we do the same thing when it comes to trusting God? We want to hang onto complete control, but our own attempts at gripping life can't slow it down. God knows where we are going, and trusting him is the key to riding the roller coaster of life - and even enjoying it.

Deliver Us from the Evil One - Learning from Others

In his book Tell it Slant Eugene Peterson distinguishes between “fifth-petitions sins” in the Lord's Prayer (which we have already committed, for which we pray “forgive us”) and “sixth-petition temptations” (which we have not faced yet, for which we pray “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”) He uses the examples of Eve and Jesus in the temptations they faced. In summary, he says (194-195):

Fifth-petition sins, for which we ask forgiveness, are far easier to notice and take responsibility for than sixth-petition temptations – the temptation that seduced Eve, the temptations that Jesus rejected – temptations carefully crafted to deceive us into using good to do evil.

And so, because of the heightened peril involved in these temptations, Jesus gives us this petition of prevention: “Be our companion-guide on this perilous path so that when we come upon a temptation that doesn’t look like a temptation, a temptation with a halo and fluttering angel wings, we won’t be seduced as Eve was, that we will be as discerning as Jesus was: ‘Let us not be brought into temptation.’

“We know that the danger is great. We know that all of us are vulnerable to the stratagems of the Devil, the cunning half-truths of the Serpent, the siftings of Satan. We need a prepared imagination well-versed in the wiles of the Evil One. We are out of our depth. Save us, help us, rescue us: ‘Deliver us from evil.’”

An extensive vocabulary for asking God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves permeates our Scriptures. Deliverance is the bottom line in the country of salvation.

We never know when or in what form we will face temptation, be brought to trial, or find ourselves enmeshed in evil. Jesus underlines the urgency of preparation for what is coming next by giving the sixth petition in the form of a double imperative: “Lead us not. … Deliver us. …”

Deliver Us from the Evil One - Rooted in Scripture

When we pray not to be led into temptation, we are not asking to be kept from all difficult situations (we talked a lot about this in church on Sunday). It's crucial for us to remember that God does call us into places that would not be of our choosing. In Matthew 10 Jesus sends the twelve disciples out to preach the gospel of the kingdom, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse those who have leprosy, and to drive out demons. The road will be difficult, though, by design. Here are Jesus’ marching orders:

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¹⁶ “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. ¹⁸ On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

²¹ “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ²² You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ²³ When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴ “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

²⁶ “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. ³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³² “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn

“ ‘a man against his father,

a daughter against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—

³⁶ a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

⁴⁰ “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Deliver Us from the Evil One - Singing Our Prayers

A beautiful and true prayer for guidance amid helplessness:

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Lead Me, Guide Me (Psalter Hymnal 544)

Refrain:

Lead me, guide me, along the way,

for if you lead me, I cannot stray.

Lord, let me walk each day with you,

lead me my whole life through.

I am weak and I need your strength and power

to endure with grace my weakest hour.

Help me through the darkness your face to see.

Lead me, O Lord, lead me. Refrain

Help me walk in the paths of righteousness;

be my aid when Satan and sin oppress.

I am trusting you whate'er may be.

Lead me, O Lord, lead me. Refrain

I am lost if you take your hand from me,

I am blind without your light to see.

Lord, forever may I your servant be.

Lead me, O Lord, lead me. Refrain

Text: Doris M. Akers, alt. Copyright (c) 1953, Doris M. Akers.

Deliver Us from the Evil One - Praying with the Church

From Thomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude (Quoted in Randal Working, From Rebellion to Redemption)

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My Lord God, 
I have no idea where I am going.  
I do not see the road ahead of me. 
I cannot know for certain where it will end.  
Nor do I really know myself, 
and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  
But I believe that the desire to please you 
does in fact please you.  
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. 
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. 
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.  
Therefore will I trust you always 
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.  
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,  
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Deilver Us From the Evil One - Praying the Psalms

It is one thing to read a psalm; it is another to pray it. These are psalms of deliverance – God is faithful through the time of trial.

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Psalm 3

A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

¹ Lord, how many are my foes!

        How many rise up against me!

² Many are saying of me,

        “God will not deliver him.”

³ But you, Lord, are a shield around me,

        my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

⁴ I call out to the Lord,

        and he answers me from his holy mountain.

⁵ I lie down and sleep;

        I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

⁶ I will not fear though tens of thousands

        assail me on every side.

⁷ Arise, Lord!

        Deliver me, my God!

Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

        break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸ From the Lord comes deliverance.

        May your blessing be on your people.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

            ² He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

            ³ he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

        for his name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk

        through the darkest valley, 

I will fear no evil,

        for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

        they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me

        in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

        my cup overflows.

⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me

        all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

        forever.