“I pray not that Thou should take them out of the world, but that Thou should keep them from the evil” (John 17:15).
It is the night of Christ’s betrayal. The next day the Lord Jesus would go to the cross to take our place. The prayer of the Lord Jesus is awesome in every aspect. One of the things about which the Lord Jesus spoke to His Father was the fact that it is not His intention to immediately remove His children from the world following their conversion. He prays however that they (we) would be protected from “The evil.” The actual meaning of “The evil” is literally “The evil one.” I like what John Gill wrote long ago, “”Christ’s praying for this, after this manner, shows that evil is very abhorrent, pernicious and powerful; the danger saints are in by it; their incapacity to keep themselves from it; and that the Lord alone is the keeper of his people. By so doing he expresses his great love to them, how dear they are to him, and what care he takes of them, and what concern he has for them.” I couldn’t say it better myself!
For today: You are precious to the Lord. He prayed for you the night before He died for you!