Evil,
synonymous with a temptation here,
can be in context simply trouble, the calamity that comes to our lives from
giving into temptations or the trouble that comes to us naturally living in
fallen bodies in a fallen world. It can also be judgment’s consequences.
Matthew
6:34 Take therefore no thought for the
morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient
unto the day is
the evil thereof.
Genesis
47:9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few
and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and
have not attained unto the days
of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
In this prayer that which challenges our faith is a malicious
event that can bring us down. The person praying was pleading to be delivered
from all such harms, griefs, disappointments, and discouragements that
challenge faith.
Then, in Luke, Jesus gives a short parable on being persistent in
prayer, promising that God will provide your needs. As Jesus said in regard to
our basic needs in Luke, chapter 12, and in Matthew, chapter 6, quoted above.
Of course, your cellphone service payment and the mortgage on the
house at the beach don’t count as needs. We’re talking about what is needed to
get by from day to day. God uses other people sometimes to provide our needs
and needs are met most assuredly while we are doing our part. I have always
been amazed at Christians who are struggling and yet refuse employment, refuse
to improve their work skills, or insist that not only do they need someone to
give them something but want to have the right to demand exactly in what form
it is given.
With regard to temptation
Paul offered this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
1Corinthians
10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
In the context of verse 13 evil
is that capacity to be malicious and hard-hearted, capable and willing of doing
harm.
Genesis
37:33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph
is without doubt rent in pieces.
Genesis
50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil
against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
We know this is an accurate description of even the best of people
at their core from our own experience if we are honest and from the Bible.
Jeremiah
17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can
know it?
The point here is that God will answer this prayer if made
sincerely, persistently, and within the confines of what we know to be His
will. This is a promise we are challenged to press for the fulfillment of,
being constant in prayer. We ought to pray it every day.” UNQUOTE
Now, back to the passage here in Matthew 6. Notice that the talk
in Matthew and in Luke are given on different occasions. Matthew, in verse 13
says;
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
Compare that to;
1Chronicles 29:11 Thine, O
LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the
majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the
kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Notice the debt we owe when we sin against someone. Clearly by
looking at the context and comparing to the passage in Luke this is not a
financial issue but clearly about our sin, a sin we sin against another and
against God. We are expected to forgive sins against us as we ask for our sins
to be forgiven.
Salvation for the Jews was contingent upon their obedience and our
relationship with Christ, indeed the Holy Spirit’s light within us can be
dimmed by our sin although most of us do not believe we can lose our salvation.
Read Ephesians 4 about grieving the Holy Spirit with your sin.
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