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