‘But deliver us from evil’, ends the Lord’s Prayer in some traditions, before the commonly used doxology in praise of God. This is the last actual petition in the Lord’s Prayer, the last thing that we ask for after the first ‘Hallowed be thy name’.

It is apt that we end our petitions with this line, because no matter how much goodness we pray for, evil only has to appeal to our old fallen nature to undo all of it, often with such speed that the goodness seems insignificant in hindsight. This fickleness and ease for things to decay is readily seen with human endeavors: what goodwill and trust took generations to build can be wasted away with a few years of scandals; entire cities can be swept away in floods or flames within days; and even the church, with its seed of holy goodness, has often, over the centuries, fallen far short of God’s way and will.

‘But deliver us from evil’ is the acknowledgement that we, as humans, are still constantly in danger from the evil one, and that it is in God that we find our deliverance. ‘But deliver us from evil’ as the final petition of the Lord’s Prayer, asks for God’s mercy on us, that we may reject our old fallen nature, and turn towards Christ and be renewed. For it is by Christ, not our own power, that we can truly be transformed from our fallen death to a renewed life.