The Lord Will Guard Us from the Evil One
Growing up as a kid, there was one person who I was convinced could defeat anything in the world. That person was my dad. I remember thinking even if the Hulk came to our house and wanted to pick a fight, my dad would have no problem with him. For some of you, that person may have been your mom, brother, or grandparents. It is funny to look back and think about it now as we get older, but when we were young, our confidence rested in that person. We knew no matter what situation we were going through, if we had that person by our side, we were going to be safe.
During our walk with Christ, the Bible tells us that we are going to encounter spiritual warfare all the time. Peter has a telling description of the evil one in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” These can be scary words to read and can cause us to live fearfully on the spiritual side of things. However, we have to ask ourselves, who is the One on our side? Just like when we were kids, and that hero figure would save us from anything we were going through, who is that person going to be for us now?
Paul addresses this in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 by saying, “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” What Paul does here is so simple, yet so amazing. Before he talks about the evil one, he talks about the mighty God that is on our side. He says God is faithful. Paul is trying to tell us to look to God first before we worry about the schemes of the devil, the spiritual warfare we are going to face, or any other adversaries in our lives. We need to remember who our great God is. It is such an amazing reality for us that the God who created the universe and the God who sent His Son to the world to die for us is the same God who protects us from any evil in our lives. I hope that this is the confidence you have when you think about the evil one. The words that the Lord is faithful and how He will protect us from the evil one make me think of similar words in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” If God is the One who is on our side, who can truly stand against us? Let us hold fast to these words and put our confidence in the Lord, who is faithful.