Special Delivery

One of the earliest lessons I taught my children was how to call for help. Their Dad, a career firefighter and rescue responder made sure we had regular fire drills, and a meeting place should a fire occur. Further reinforcing their understanding of how to handle emergencies. We never wanted them to be frightened, but preparation goes a long way in remaining calm when calamity strikes. 911 was one of the earliest numbers they learned. Because they grew up at the firehouse with lots of surrogate uncles to befriend and entertain, the fellowship they experienced resulted in a confidence that if they ever needed to call 911, able bodied strong helpful kind guys were on the other end, waiting and ready to help.

As a younger sister to a brother 5 years older, I made a great guinea pig for all the mischievous creative ideas Daryl could cook up. One of our adventures involved me climbing into the clothes chute to slide down to the basement where all of my mother’s blankets and pillows, etc., etc. were piled to welcome my guesstimated soft landing. However, neither my brother or myself counted on me getting stuck when I allowed my knees to come to my chest. No pushing or pulling of my 4-yr old body resulted in nothing, but panic and tears, and our housekeeper, Lorraine, had to be notified of our situation. The fire dept was called and I told my husband that’s where I fell in love with my first fireman. Fireman Joe peered in, smiled, and said not to worry, he could get me out and it wouldn’t hurt. Vegetable oil and big hands reached down and I was suddenly free from the tin trap displaying my gratitude by hanging on to Joe’s leg desperately, wailing loudly over my close encounter. Meanwhile, Frau Lorraine, as we referred to her behind her back, told my brother he had an evil mind, cooking up such an evil plot, and didn’t he know his sister could have been seriously hurt?

This was later repeated by our parents, minus the evil adjectives, but Daryl was put on notice that there would be no more experiments involving me proving the laws of gravity. I was off limits. I got the rebuke about being influenced by others convincing arguments.I also was encouraged to report any future requests for nonsense to my parents. The fire dept. received my mothers prize cherry nut cake as a thank you for my rescue. Daryl’s allowance and tv time left for a week. I was kept close to Frau Lorraine for a week, which I felt was much worse than Daryl’s punishment. But I learned a lesson, I never forget that day. Try and avoid evil, but ask for help. It comes when it is needed.

“Deliver us from Evil.” This is the last petition in the Lord’s Prayer.I like to think of this portion as the 911 part of the model prayer Jesus gave us. It is our request for rescue and divine deliverance from evil and the evil one. It is a cry for my Father to come to the aid of my limited humanity and bring His strength to lift me out of the darkness I cannot conquer in my own power. It is a call for the chains that bind us and restrict our freedom in Christ to be unlocked and left behind. It is an acknowledgement that only God can offer me the protection I need when the enemy launches his efforts to harm or destroy me. As human beings we can get into some pretty harrowing experiences. Both physically and spiritually, whereby it is only through God’s power we can come out unscathed and safely with our bodies, minds and spirits intact. Jesus instructed us in this manner because He knew we would need it. Close fellowship and intimate prayer time with God results in our confidence and comfort that He is able to rescue us, no matter our situation. God makes us promises throughout scripture about His constant love and care. And He always delivers.He demonstrates His power to do this very thing throughout the bible with all kinds of people.

Consider Adam and Eve, hiding in the bushes after they disobeyed God. Though they were punished, God rescued them from their hiding place and made clothes for them. After 400 years of crying to be delivered from the evil hands of the Pharaohs slavery, the Israelites were released and crossed the red sea on dry land in the middle and eventually made it to Canaan, the promised Land. Daniel, tossed into the lion’s den, curled up and slept against big cats, and God delivered him from certain harm and death. My favorite is the quote of the 3 Hebrew boys who refused to bow and serve idols when they were sentenced to be thrown into the fiery furnace.

Daniel 3: 16-18

“Our God whom we serve is able to DELIVER us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand O King, but even if He doesn’t, we will not serve your gods or worship your golden image.”

I love this confidence they have in God’s ability to rescue no matter the odds against them. The reward for their faith was Jesus joined them in the fire and when they came out of the furnace alive and well, the scriptures record they didn’t even smell like smoke, not a hair was singed (Daniel 3:27) That is deliverance. The psalmist declares in several places God delivers us from our fears, our troubles, our distress, evil, our enemies. I have experienced this first hand in my walk with God. He has kept His promise to come when I call and has delivered me more times than I can count. Often delivering even when I did not know I was in peril.

These are good reminders of all the ways God answers our urgent request to be delivered from evil that surrounds us. Consider all that we face right now, pandemic, economic and political crisis, natural disasters, social unrest and violence. If ever we needed to plead to be delivered from evil, it is in this hour. For what of this can mankind accomplish on his own without the divine intervention of the all-powerful almighty God? Who else has created time and conquered death? Certainly the most evil of forces is death itself, but we have been promised through Christ’s death and resurrection that God has delivered us through this to reside with Him, forever in His presence and Glory. My unawareness of evil or ignorance of it does not render it powerless to harm me. Evil is always the potential enemy and I believe Jesus finished the petition portion of the prayer to make us mindful, Wishing evil away will not make it so.While it doesn’t need to remain in the forefront of our minds and thoughts, refusing to acknowledge its existence will not encourage me to pray effectively. It is for me to cooperate with God’s power to rescue and deliver me from the forces of evil, no matter the form they take on. 

I close today with one of my favorite passages, 

Psalm 91(I secretly refer to it as the 9-1-1 Psalm.)

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord,”He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from deadly pestilence,
He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wing you will find refuge, His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in evil darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand but it will not come near you,
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked
If you say “The LORD is my refuge” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways, they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against one stone,
You will tread on the lion and the cobra, you will trample the great lion and the serpent,
Because he loves, says the Lord, “I will rescue him, I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will DELIVER him and honor him.
With a long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”