God Our Rescuer Series

God Our Rescuer

We read in Psalm 91:15, “When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them.” (GNB)

As we continue our study on Psalm 91, we will meditate in depth on verse 15. While verses 1 to 13 are a dialogue between two people, verses 14 to 16 are the very words of God. These verses describe in detail all that God is ready to accomplish in the lives of those who make Him their sole refuge.

I would wish to high-light the second part of verse 15 which is ‘when they are in trouble.’In this verse the Lord addresses the troubles and fears that assail us as human beings. As long as we live on this earth we will be confronted with various perils and dangers, which often fill our hearts with apprehension about the future. God’s word of assurance is that He will Himself be with us in the midst of all our troubles. Therefore, for those who have trusted in the Lord and made Him their refuge, there is no need to fear, because the Lord has promised to be with us.

The Bible recounts in detail the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and David, all of whom were challenged with dangers and oppositions from kings. The Lord was able to deliver them from the hands of these oppressors. There are others like Jacob and Joseph who faced hardships from their own family members. However, when they relied on God, the Lord brought them out triumphant and blessed them abundantly. The apostle Paul, faced threats and objection from false brothers, who aimed at his downfall, but the Lord rescued him from them all.

One important lesson that we learn from this verse is that for a righteous person, who is totally dependent on God, he or she will encounter many trials and difficulties. If we decide to follow the Lord and walk in His ways, we will be challenged with hardships of all kinds, but the Lord is faithful and He will deliver us from all of these calamities. We can therefore lay all of our problems at the feet of the Lord Jesus and believe that the Lord who is with us will bring speedy deliverance.

The troubles of the righteous are many

We read in Psalm 34:19, “The righteous person has many troubles, but the LORD rescues him from all of them.” (GW)

Our human tendency in the midst of our hard situations, is to wonder as to why God is allowing us to go through all of this. The story is told of a man who was going through such arduous times that he questioned God as to why he was left to handle all these innumerable difficulties all by himself. He had a dream that night and in that dream, as he and the Lord walked along the beach, there were two sets of footprints, one of his and one of the Lord. This was the scene through all the calm, peaceful and joyful seasons of his life. However, when the seasons of his life were darkest, saddest and most troublesome, he noticed there were only one set of footprints. The man asked the Lord why this was so, to which the Lord whispered, ‘My precious child, I love you and will never leave you and never, ever during your trials and tests. When you saw one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.’

Let us hold on to the promises of God through all those valley like experiences, when circumstances seem darkest, knowing that the Lord will most certainly rescue us from all of them.

A person whom I spoke to told me, when troubles come they never come singly, but always in clusters. It may be true in a sense, but we have the affirmation that the Lord will liberate us from every one of these problems without fail.

The cloud of witnesses encourage us

We read in Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” (ESV)

The Bible is filled with examples of those who endured such trials, trusted in the Lord and came out victorious. These witnesses are mentioned to us so we can find encouragement from their lives, read the word and stand firm in the faith. When we do so the Lord will surely free us from all these difficulties that entangle us.

Let us study some of the incidents recorded in the Bible to see how we can have our own faith strengthened in the Lord.