This week, we join with the universal church in praying for the students and families of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis after another shooting targeted at Christians. It’s horrifying to hear about another act of violence against children who bear the name of Christ. It’s also horrible to realize we’ve somehow become accustomed to hearing about such things.
Increasingly, it seems that these “random acts” are not random at all but intentionally directed at those little ones who confess faith in Jesus Christ and in the truth of his holy Word. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, for our Shepherd has told us that “a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
After every one of these incidents, the question is asked repeatedly, “What is to be done?” Is the answer better security? Better training for teachers and staff? Better mental health resources? More legislation?
Certainly, earthly and pragmatic steps can be taken to better ensure our children’s safety, and these should be fully pursued insofar as they are wise and beneficial. After all, we have a vocational responsibility to care for our children, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
However, a single-minded focus on earthly responses — while necessary in terms of physical safety — puts us at risk of seeing evil through a materialistic lens, as if there were no metaphysical reality lurking behind the human evil we see so often. Saint Paul warns us against this kind of thinking, telling us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
At the end of the day, the evil that the Christian faces is not rooted in flesh and blood, even though flesh and blood may carry it out. It’s rooted in the spiritual forces that have rebelled against God from the beginning, who hate the human creation that bears His image, and will stop at nothing in their attempt to rend us from the assurance we have in the gospel and tempt us into despair and ruin.
In other words, demons exist, and they hate you. All the world’s most advanced security techniques (which, again, are useful!) may be able to prevent the symptom, but the evil remains. The hate remains. No amount of weapons, doors, locks, or cameras can ever be effective against the evil arrayed against us.
What, then, shall we do? As it turns out, one mode of resistance is guaranteed to break the guard of the devil and cause him to flee: the prayer of a Christian. Scripture tells us that to resist the devil is to put him to flight (James 4:7). What better method of resistance is there than to pray as Christ has taught, “Deliver us from evil?”
The prayer of a Christian is powerful, and God grants forgiveness, healing, daily bread, and a multitude of other gifts in light of his people’s prayers. Why should we quake before the devil and his angels when God has promised to hear our prayers and defend us? Let the devil quake instead, and let his followers contend with Christ and experience the fear that they would inflict on us!
After tragedies such as we saw this past week, it’s become increasingly fashionable for people to say, “Now is not the time for prayer – it is the time for action!” To that I would say this: prayer is the highest form of Christian action and whenever the world discourages prayer, the Christian should pray twice as hard!
Pray without ceasing! Pray that God would bring comfort and healing to our grieving neighbors, that he would bring us to repentance and deliver us from evil in all its forms, and that he would put the devil to flight through the preaching of his Word. Finally, pray that God’s name be hallowed and His divine will be done, that those who consider themselves our earthly enemies would instead become our brothers and sisters through saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Rev. Theodore Hoham is associate pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia.
