Ezra 8:31 Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered from the hand of our enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.
Ezra acknowledges that the Lord brought the people out of exile; that the hand of God was upon them; and that God delivered them from the hand of the enemy. The people had been in Babylon a long time, long enough to get used to it, to settle in, and no longer old enough to remember anything different. And now to pull up roots and make a difficult and dangerous journey was challenging.
But Ezra, being a man of the Word, a man of prayer, and a man of faith, was up to the challenge. He took hold of God’s Promise and ran with it. We also are on a laborious and dangerous journey from exile in a sinful and foreign world to our heavenly home with the Lord. We too have the twofold promise that the power of God will be with us and that He will deliver us from our Enemy on the way. We pray with confident trust “deliver us from evil.”
The word “evil” (poneros) can also be translated “evil one.” The word “hand” (hand of God, hand of the enemy) symbolizes “power.” We are not deceived, for we do not underestimate the power of the devil, but we also know the truth that the power of our Lord is much greater. Grace and truth always win.
Surely Sin , Death and the devil lie in wait by the way. Some days we are ambushed and blindsided. Sin crouches at the door, Death lurks in the bushes, and the Devil prowls like a lion. So we repent of our own faulty reasoning and strength and we believe the Gospel, as it is the power of God. We believe, we pray “deliver us from evil,” we trust the promise, and we go merrily on our way. We will reach Jerusalem.