“...for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.” Jeremiah 1:19
Deliverance, it’s a weighty word. And biblically speaking, it packs a powerful punch. It begins the moment we breath that prayer of a needy heart heavenward. Christ steps in and delivers our soul from the grip of sin, changing our eternal destiny. He then opens a whole new world to us through His Word and His Spirit that comes to live in and through us.
But the deliverance promised the believer is more than that. It’s a daily thing. It’s the work of a moment, it’s the work of a lifetime. It’s an eternal work. It’s about not crumbling in defeat, being crushed by despair, being desperate without hope, lost in uncertainty. It’s food on the table, the bills being paid, not being overcome by sickness, not being swallowed up in hurt and anger and bitterness when you are betrayed, or left to wonder what went wrong in a relationship….and, it’s waves of grace while enduring these very things, waiting to see what God will do. With Jesus there is hope for deliverance, and He is all about hope. Deliverance is in Jesus, not just from Him.
Confusion and disillusionment with God comes when we try to orchestrate just how and when God will deliver. After all, we know what the situation demands, what the immediate need is, right? We are the ones dealing with the magnitude of the moment, so it only stands to reason that if God would just listen to me and meet me where I am, changing my situation, removing my unmovable mountain, everything would be fine and I could get on with my life. There stands the stark difference between our ways and God’s ways, our thoughts and His thoughts. There, the reality of faith meets the mind of human reasoning and a battle is waged. Why would God not do something to intervene and keep me from my struggle? The short and simple answer? I’m not God. And God defines deliverance, not me. Scripture addresses a number of reasons why God does what He does, and believe me, He is good at what He does. And when I am willing to step back and see things from His perspective, I gain a greater awareness of a world beyond my own that He is vastly interested in and intimately involved with.
First, He has an eternal purpose in mind. We hold so tightly to this life. It’s what we know. We operate in the realm of the tangible, the physical, the material. But Christ calls us beyond that. We just have to reach past our own purposes and consider the greater work of a great God, and how our situation may be fitting into His plan and purpose, an eternal one. That means something beyond what I may be experiencing at the moment. Something weightier, something that impacts not just life as I may know it right now, but that projects into the eternal existence. Our situation may change, it may not. But if we see God clearer, know Him more intimately and trust Him more fully, deliverance is no less real, regardless.
Scripture in John 11 says that Jesus is brought news that his dear friend Lazarus is sick. But Jesus “when he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was”’ (vs. 6). What was Jesus doing? The disciples didn’t understand why he would deliberately choose to stay where he was rather than scramble to get to Lazarus before he died, sparing the family the terrible ordeal that death is. He then even said to the disciples, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe” (vs. 15). Believe what? They were so confused, but they followed Jesus to Bethany to Lazarus’ home. Things were no different there. Mary and Martha didn’t understand either, and they both expressed their strong feelings to Jesus imploring Him to explain why he didn’t come sooner. They both exclaimed, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died!” But He did die, and Jesus had allowed it. In their minds the only deliverance was Jesus keeping Lazarus alive. They had their own thoughts about how Jesus was supposed to handle their desperate situation. But He wanted them to see and understand that HE was the resurrection and the life and that whoever believed in Him, even if he left this life, would still live!! Jesus wept to see Mary and Martha grieving so, but bringing them to the realization of Who He was and what He was capable of was the greater deliverance. Jesus then went on to explain that “if they would just believe, they would see the glory of God.”
The glory of God, that’s an eternal purpose. We don’t see it because we don’t believe. We don’t value believing in Jesus above how we might feel at the moment, or what we might have to endure in a lifetime. But the eternal purpose is that we would “just believe”. He is worthy of that, and it changes everything.
Second, our great Savior, the Creator God, always acts with our best interest in mind and in a way that will show that He is a great God that deserves worship and adoration. But once again, we often try to prescribe just how that best should happen. Sometimes, He doesn’t “come through for us” in the ways we expect. What does that mean? Where does that leave us? Forsaken? Abandoned? Fools for believing in such nonsense? How is He glorified in my life when wrong seems to win? When I have to face situations, sometimes difficult, sometimes desperate, and He seems to be nowhere around! Why should He be honored when I am hurting? How do I even reconcile being allowed to experience pain with His love for me?
Hebrews 11 details some mighty acts of deliverance, different times throughout history that faith in a great and powerful and loving God brought divine intervention. Men and women saw kingdoms conquered, justice enforced, promises obtained...the mouths of lions were stopped, the power of fire was quenched, death by sword was escaped and armies were put to flight. Women received their dead raised back to life again….but then the chapter takes a turn. “And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance (rescue), so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated----of whom the world was not worthy, ----wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.” “All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.” (NLT) Did you catch that??? Regardless of the outcome, regardless of the magnanimous faith, whether they received their dead back to life, or they were tortured...whether they put armies to flight or wandered in caves. It was not just about their dire circumstance in the moment. And it doesn’t mean God doesn’t care. It means He cares very much! But He keeps the big picture in mind...ETERNITY...and how we fit into it. “For God had something better in mind for us.” He always does.
Consider Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. In Daniel 3, they were faced with death by fiery furnace unless they were willing to bow in worship to a golden statue as dictated by their king. Boldly and respectfully they declared, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” They were confident that 1) God was able to deliver them; 2) God would be worshiped, and 3) deliverance was theirs either way. They believed. They were delivered.
A greater deliverance is realized in trusting God with His eternal purposes. A greater deliverance is realized when we understand that He always acts with our best interest in mind and in a way that glory will be ascribed to Him. We are each a stone in a huge monument of glory being built down through the ages. Mine will be etched with a different story than yours. But in eternity it will all be magnificent and glorious and significant. EVERY STONE WILL HAVE ITS PLACE. His great work, His great plan, His great love will be so evident, and we will see He has included us in it and it is amazing! For some, deliverance will be quick and immediate, for others it will come over time. Still others, eternity brings the greater deliverance. So don’t doubt His deliverance.
Let faith help you find it.
