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. …”