Father, Deliver Us From The Evil One

"Today's Devotion" For April 18, 2007

Read: Matthew 15:21-28; Psalm 28

FATHER, DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE

"...but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:13)

A young man walks around a university and shoots upward of 50-60 people, killing 32 and then himself. He videotapes a rambling and threatening monologue in which he "explains" the reason for the massacre in which he's about to engage. The resulting carnage has families, friends, the community, the university, and the authorities are asking why this happened. The news media, despite protestations to the contrary, has been sensationalizing this video as "legitimate" news reporting and drawn attacks for its lack of compassion and just, plain commonsense courtesy to the suffering. The inevitable political debate over the legality of handguns or the need to outlaw them altogether has been engaged once more. And, just as inevitably, there is the standard "who knew, when did they know, and why didn't they do something about it," as the "blame game" begins once more concerning the signs of the mental and emotional instability of yet another human being that “went off the deep end.”

Now I suppose that many might consider any one or all of the above perfectly legitimate concerns, arguments, or analyzing the story. Yet what concerns me, and it's very much in line with the problem the daughter of the Canaanite woman had. According to her mother she was "suffering terribly from demon-possession" (Matthew 15:22). I realize that it's not fashionable or considered realistic to speak of demon-possession in the "post-modern" age we live in, yet I can't help but wonder if the young Virginia Tech student who took so many lives, including his own, wasn't suffering from a spiritual emptiness and control of demons.

The reality of our contemporary world is that demon possession is somewhat akin to science fiction. In fact, movies that carry plots of demon possession are most often shown on the Sci-Fi Channel on cable television. In recent weeks movies such as Carrie, The Shining, and The Exorcist have been on the Sci-Fi Channel, a clear indication that our modern, "sophisticated" world regards such genre as so much fantasy. Unfortunately, with such an attitude prevailing in our culture, people such as this young man are going to continue to harm others and then themselves because no one recognizes the spiritual emptiness of which the devil is taking advantage. Ultimately, the real concern in such cases as the Virginia Tech massacre isn't whether or not handguns are able to be obtained legally (they can certainly be obtained illegally, no matter what any legislation might say), nor is it about whether or not the young man showed symptoms of his problems and who knew when. In the end, this young man slipped through the cracks in society because spiritual things, the things of God, are not the highest priority in the world or our culture.

God's people need to remember this. We need to pray diligently every day, as Jesus teaches us in the Lord's Prayer, "but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13). We can pray that petition with confidence that God will answer us and keep us safe from the evil one, because that's what Jesus accomplished for us and the entire world by His suffering, death, and resurrection. Satan is defeated. The devil has no power over God's people any longer. By faith in Christ, all who believe have God's power to defeat Satan through His Word and Spirit. As forgiven sinners, we are confident that the devil has nothing to offer us that God hasn't already promised us in Christ. As we live as Christ's witnesses in our communities and world, we pray that God would lead us to touch the lives of others with the Good News of His grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness in Christ - a message which could have given the Virginia Tech student the hope and peace that was obviously lacking in his life. After all, when we know Christ Jesus and live in God's forgiveness, mercy, and love, we have no worries and no one else’s behavior, power, or possessions (all part of the shooter's ramblings) can tear us away from Him.

Prayer: Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take away the guilt of my sins and open the doors of heaven to me, a poor, miserable sinner. Father, I think about the spiritual pain and anguish the young man in Virginia must have been going through for him to take not only the lives of others, but his own as well. I'm struck by his apparent hopelessness and despair. My heart aches because I firmly believe that if he had only known Your love and forgiveness in Jesus, none of what he did would have happened. Father, I know there are others like him in the community and the world. Lead me and all Your redeemed children to have hearts for all who are lost and in spiritual darkness and pain, suffering the stings and arrows of the devil as he seeks to wreak havoc on Your redeemed world before Jesus comes again. Give me Your wisdom and fill me with Your Spirit, so that I may be an active witness to others of Your gift of salvation in Christ. And Father, as I am tempted by the power of Sin and Satan, the world and my sinful flesh, hear me as I pray, "Father, deliver us from the evil one." In Jesus' name. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2007 by Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.