Month: June 2020

In a time when our lives are being dictated by categories of severity or stages of reprieve I found myself in the midst of a study of the different references to deliverance in the Bible.

It all started with my verse for the day. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 97:10

As I read and reread that verse letting it sink into my heart and mind, I was drawn to the phrase “He delivereth them”. Looking around at all of the turmoil currently occurring across America I found comfort in this verse, it reminded me that no matter what takes place, God stands ready to deliver us !!! In thinking about the deliverance of the Lord, I began to search throughout the Bible for other references of deliverance and I discovered something interesting.

In 2 Chronicles 12:7 it refers to “some deliverance”. “And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.”

In Psalm 32:7 “songs of deliverance”. “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.”

In Ezra 9:13 “such deliverance”. “And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this.”

But then in Genesis 45:7 I read of a “great deliverance”. “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” My mind decided to sit here a while and contemplate the idea of “ a great deliverance”. In this passage we find the story of how God had strategically placed Joseph in a position of power so as to be able in due time to offer this “great deliverance”. Just as God works in our lives to strategically put things in place to care for us far beyond the time in which the need arises. But let’s not stop there, our physical needs though important to God, are not the true measure of His provision of deliverance.

In Luke 4:18, we find the absolute fulfillment of deliverance, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” God sent His son to fulfill the prophecy of deliverance. Deliverance from the penalty of sin.

“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” Galatians 1:4

So in thinking about the word deliverance I am reminded that true deliverance can only be found in Jesus Christ. Each of us are bombarded by constant turmoil and unrest around us, we all have past mistakes that haunt us, hurt and pain that we carry deep within, but in Jesus and only through Him, we can find the deliverance we seek.

“But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” Obadiah 1:17

In my recent study of the mercy of the Lord, I came across the following verse.

“Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:“ Genesis 19:19

I kind of did a double take as I read the words of magnified mercy and saving of life followed by I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die. What ???

We are all familiar with the story of Lot and how he was removed from the city of Sodom and Gomorrah just prior to it being destroyed; but focusing in on this one single verse I saw a picture of just how blind we can be to the true working of God’s mercy.

God had just removed Lot from utter destruction, from the complete and utter decimation of the city in which he lived; but Lot immediately questioned God’s direction in telling him to go to the mountain and God’s ability to see him there safely. He never missed a beat in his lack of faith in what God could do to protect him even though he had just partaken in a true example of the depth of God’s mercy.

I could not help but pause and say, “Really Lot, REALLY ??” . . . And then, I immediately could hear God speaking to my heart, “Really Tina, REALLY??”

How often I have done the same thing? Now granted, I have as yet not been removed from a city just prior to it being destroyed by fire; but, God has certainly delivered me from situations of destruction only for me to turn around within the next instant and see something ahead as impossible. How is it that all too soon we forget the magnitude of God’s mercy, we forget the magnitude of His power ?

“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” Deuteronomy 7:9

“And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:”1 Kings 8:23

“But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.” Psalm 59:16-17

No greater security can be found than to have absolute assurance of a God of mercy, who stands ready to protect us in our time of trouble. It is nothing that we have done that gives reason for Him to extend mercy toward us, but all made possible through the work of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” Titus 3:5

His Mercy is Great, there is no end to the power of His might nor the extent by which His mercy can save us. It is by His Magnified Mercy !!!