Twelfth Sunday after Trinity – Tuesday

But deliver us from evil. – Matthew 6:13.

Do you find it easy to bear cross and tribulation?  Probably not.  Cross and tribulation smarts. We groan beneath it.  It seems to us to be an evil.  And now our dear Savior Jesus Christ comes and bids us pray: “Deliver us from evil.”

The instruction for us in this petition is the following: First, we should pray that God would keep many evils of body and soul, property and honor aloof from us, though we have well deserved them.  Oh, and He does it!  Secondly, we should pray that by His Holy Spirit, working through His Word, God would help us to bear the cross which He allows for our benefit, and that He would temper it, and soon take it from us, if such be His holy will.  And, lastly, we should pray that, finally, when our last hour has come, God would grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven, where there will be no cross, no smarting, no death, no bitter parting.  There we shall be fully delivered from every evil.

Thus fortify yourself with this petition, my dear Christian, against every trouble, against the devil, against every evil, against tribulation, against alarm and disgrace, against sadness, woe, and lamentation, against sickness, pain, against dismay, against dejection, care, and trepidation, against every evil day.  And may the Father’s gracious acceptance of your prayer always cast a comforting light on your path, until the blessed light of heaven shall dawn on you.

PRAYER – So then, O my heavenly Father, deliver me from every evil, for Jesus’ sake!  Give me a rich measure of Thy Holy Spirit working through Thy precious Word, that I may know with the utmost certainty that every cross with which Thou dost still afflict me is not an evil, but an eternal blessing, and grant me grace to bear it patiently.  Ah, my God, in Fatherly goodness have compassion on Thy frail child, and deal mercifully with me!  And lastly, O my Father, take me far, far away from every evil, into Thy blessed mansions in heaven at Thy own best time and place. Amen.

 

From evil, Lord, deliver us;

the times and days are perilous;

redeem us from eternal death;

and when we yield our dying breath,

console us, grant us calm release,

and take our souls to Thee in peace.

(Hymn 458, st. 8; TLH)

 

Tagged with: