Deliverance From Evil Works

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 

II Timothy 4:18 

Christ is the Great Deliverer of His people. Where do we arrive if we consider this statement in the broadest context? Paul was writing from a prison cell in Rome. He was facing execution as a matter of fact, in just a matter of time. How could he say, ‘the Lord will deliver me from every evil work?’ Most particularly, he could speak of his suffering persecution and imprisonment as evil works done against him. His only crime was the proclamation of Christ. He could further consider that execution would be an evil work which would only add insult to injury. Yet Paul looks above and beyond these to Christ and says, ‘the Lord will deliver me from every evil work.’ We may consider that throughout the history of the people of God, Christ has delivered His people from evil works of every stripe and variety, not the least of which are those we ourselves do, which have profoundly disastrous effects upon us. Christ must deliver us from every evil work regardless of its’ origin. As Paul looked ahead to his own future, he did so with confidence in Christ. For now, we can only begin to understand the many ways He delivers us. We remember the words of Christ to Peter, ‘what I do you do not understand now, but you shall understand later.’ 

Our All-Wise God, 
we rejoice that You know best how to deliver us 
from every evil work. 
We praise You that day-by-day, 
You work in our lives to bring us step-by-step 
toward a complete deliverance.