Have you ever needed to be delivered from something? I have. Was is it an addiction? Was it a circumstance? Was it a particular bad habit or sin? What did you do to be delivered? Did you try to deliver yourself? I did and still do? Did you turn to God for your deliverance? I did. Did you turn to God immediately when you first understood you needed deliverance or was it after several other attempts to do it yourself? Let me tell you what I learned about the God who delivers.
I have found that the concept of deliverance can be thought of in the same way as salvation is the Bible. In many cases the Greek or Hebrew words are translated either way in different English translations so I will consider them to be synonyms.
I know that I have almost always tried to get out of trouble on my own. Rarely have I turned to God first. I understand that when I am in trouble that it would be better for me to seek God first to deliver me but I guess I am too proud to think I cannot get out of my troubles. I need to learn the lesson found in Psalms 60:11, “Oh, grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!” (ESV)
As you can see there is no salvation (deliverance) in man. I am unable to deliver or save myself I need to turn to God for help.
It is in times of great distress that I am more likely to turn to God for help. I have found that even when I have turned away from following after God, He has not turned away from me. Back in the Old Testament we learn about just that kind of situation. After Manasseh, son of King Hezekiah, became king he rebuilt the alters to the heathen gods. The people of Israel turned away from God and God promised punishment for their sin. However, in the promise of punishment there was also a promise of deliverance. He promised that He would not leave them completely and would in fact protect and deliver them from the nation He Himself sends to punish them.
“And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.” Jeremiah 15:20-21 (ESV)
So, even when I deserve punishment as Israel did God will never forsake me. He is always there to protect me and deliver me from my own self-made problem.
King David understood the concept of God’s deliverance. He did not take for granted, as I often do, God’s power to deliver him. He understood that it was not David that delivered David from all his enemies or from King Saul but it was God. Read how David spoke about this, “And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.” 2 Samuel 22:1 (ESV)
The biggest way that God has delivered me is not from any circumstance that I have been in but that He has delivered me from my own sin. Just like the Israelites in Jeremiah I needed to be delivered by God. I have sinned in the past, I still sin in the present and I am likely to sin in the future. But God in His infinite mercy has granted me forgiveness through the death and resurrection of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. I have learned and still continue to learn that I cannot deliver myself from my own sin. I must have a deliverer and that deliver is Jesus Christ. If you do not know Jesus as your deliverer you need to today. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (ESV)
I pray you will you join me in being delivered by God. Seeking Him first and not as a last resort. In doing so, I believe we will have hope and joy in the midst of our everyday lives. Understanding that the holiness of Jesus Christ allows us to access eternal life, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 (ESV) This will allow us to have hope. At the same time understanding that you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and this is what brings the greatest hope all because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfying the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google.
