Throughout the history of the Bible I see that God is a deliverer. I see it so clearly when I read the stories that happened and I read the scriptures that get quoted in the Bible. I just see that he is the deliverer so clearly that it is so relevant to anyone. Or that is what I think.
Over the past few weeks I have seen shocking things that have happened when it comes to calling on God as a deliverer. In the month of April 17, 2011, a tornado hit northern North Carolina and Southern and Eastern Virginia. About 20 people’s lives were claimed by the tornado in North Carolina. About 9 extra lives were even claimed by the tornado in a little town of Gloucester and Middlesex in the state of Virginia.
And when I heard that that many lives were taken it made me cry. I wanted to yell out to God asking where he was. But I was eased quickly. I felt like he was there. I felt like his hand was trying to stretch across Gloucester and Middlesex. But there was a supernatural and natural hand telling him to back off.
But soon I felt like the police, fire departments, rescue squads, and government personnel’s soon found out that they couldn’t save everybody like they planned. So they just did what they could and let fate take the course. And by fate I mean if God was flowing, God would flow. And he did. The winds ceased. The rain slowed down. The sun came out and we had a wonderful Sunday with beautiful wind and beautiful weather. God is our deliverer.
‘A righteous man may have many troubles (affliction; NKJV), but the Lord delivers him from them all; He protects all his bones not one of them will be broken.’ (Psalms 34:19 NIV)
The word affliction means: ‘Painful physical, spiritual or financial experiences that are not wanted by the human being.’
I also like what the scripture says. It says a righteous man will have many troubles. The word many in the American Heritage Collegiate Dictionary means: ‘To be allowed or permitted. Used to indicate a certain measure of likelihood or possibility.’
I like the definition. It means that troubles will and are possible of coming. Just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean that you are going to have no troubles. Sometimes it seems like you have more than your share of troubles.
But with faith and with the Holy Spirit you will know that God is your deliver and that he will always deliver you.
WHAT THE LORD DELIVERS YOU FROM
1. Enemies
‘This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God of Israel.’
Now this story isn’t your everyday story told my mommy and daddy or by your teacher at school trying to get a key point across. It is a story that shows how big your faith is in Christ as your savior and deliverer.
If you take a peek at the earlier scriptures that are earlier it will show you that there was a war. It wasn’t an ordinary war either. It was more like a supernatural war between God and the Devil. The only thing different a little boy was included.
‘The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and his iron spearhead weighted six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.’ (1 Samuel 17:3-7)
‘And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth and he a man of war from his youth.’
So one person that was going to fight was a teenager that was about 14 or 15. Then the other person fighting was a 9-foot giant that was about 30 or 40 that had professional weapons and armor ready to kill whoever was going to come out to fight. Was it a fair fight? No. It is very unfair.
In the natural the possible winner was going to be Goliath. It was more than 99.99% that Goliath was going to win. But we don’t care about the natural. In the supernatural David was going to win. God was on David’s side and when God is with you the other enemy doesn’t have a chance.
And with that said, David beat Goliath and killed him and trampled over the Philistines and he won. Glory to God.
‘But the Lord your God you shall fear; and he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.’ (1 Kings 17:39 NKJV)
2. Trouble
‘The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.’ (Psalms 34:17 NKJV)
The word trouble in the American Heritage Collegiate Dictionary means: ‘A state of distress, danger, or need. A distressing or difficult circumstance or situation. A cause or source of distress, disturbance, or difficulty.’
Notice the words in the definition. Affliction, distress, danger, need, and difficulty. All those go with what the Lord delivers you out of. He delivers you out of trouble that you will go through. Praise God.
3. Our Soul
‘Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh save me for your mercies sake.’ (Psalms 6:4)
Whenever something gets in your soul that you know shouldn’t be there God will deliver that. Whenever you get the feeling of jealousy, pride, and anger in your soul God will deliver that. You just have to let him deliver it for you.
4. Poverty and Lack
‘He delivers the poor in their affliction, and opens their ears in oppression.’ (Job 36:15)
I like that. The book of Job was filled with oppression, affliction, and pain. Job had lost his wife. He had lost his children. His animals were dying. He was unemployed. He was battling demons. He was even losing his own health. But in the midst of all that pain and discouragement, God gave Job a message of hope. He gave him a message saying, “I am the deliverer. Give me the problem.” Glory to God.
5. Temptation
‘Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust punishment for the Day of Judgment.’ (2 Peter 2:9)
6. Fear
‘Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared in the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil and release those who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.’ (Hebrews 2:14-15)
That is one of the most powerful verses in the whole book of Hebrews. No matter how much fear is being pumped into you God will always deliver you. That is what I like about God. In the verse it says that the children have partaken of flesh and blood, which is the most probable cause of the fear. But no matter what, whether it was you or someone else that caused that fear, God is always there to help you out of it.
7. The Mouth of the Lion
‘You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.’ (2 Timothy 4:15)
Now you are probably wondering why I put the mouth of the lion down on the list. The mouth of the lion isn’t even in the verse. But I heard a pastor preach a sermon a while back on God being our deliver. And he said that our words were like a lion to us in the future. Our words built all the parts of the lion until we were eaten by the lion. That is how dangerous our words that are negative are.
It is scary but you will always know that God is going to be there to deliver you which is the main theme of the whole chapter.
8. Evil
‘But deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matthew 6:13b)
I like that whole prayer. Jesus told us to pray that prayer. And included he will deliver us from the evil one.
And even though it may not feel like God is delivering us, he always is. Glory to God.
