This coming week they are learning the Seventh Petition of the Lord's Prayer. This is the portion that we started learning on Saturday and that my kids will be learning this week.
But deliver us from evil.
What does this mean?
We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us...
This weekend, I let my kids watch an episode of Curious George. Seems harmless enough, right? They are 3, almost 6, and 7. I don't know why, but for some reason some purple liquid that spilled onto one of the characters terrified my 6 year old.
A couple of hours after he had seen the show he was still saying that he just couldn't help thinking about it. I tried over and over to distract him. I even sent him outside to chase a cat out of our backyard thinking surely when he comes back inside from running around the yard that he will be thinking about something else. (The cat had left the yard as soon as he opened the door, but he ran around anyway yelling "CAT! CAT!")
No such luck. He was still moping that he couldn't quit thinking about that episode. Finally, at bedtime, he came out of bed for the umpteenth time complaining about it, so I said, "David, go to bed. Say the Lord's Prayer, and go to sleep."
"But, Mom! I don't think it will work!"
"It won't 'work.' It isn't a magic potion. But we pray in the Lord's prayer that God would deliver us from evil, and we trust that God's Word is true and that He does what He says He will do. We know that God is with us and protects us because we have been baptized. Now, you may still be scared even after you pray, but you will remember God's Word, and trust in it."
He prayed the Lord's Prayer, didn't fall asleep, and came out again.
Honestly, I thought he might do just that, but hopefully, he also learned an important lesson. God may not choose to take away our fears, but He does promise to deliver us from evil.
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