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Devotions

Deliverance

There is no promise of immunity from struggle if only we are good enough.

Read Psalm 17:1-7, 15.

In the opening verses of this psalm, David pleads his case for why he deserves to be delivered from his enemies. He’s a good person, he argues, someone who has shaped his life around the commandments of God. In some ways, he’s suggesting it’s only fair that God should protect him (a good person) from them (bad people). But Jesus says in Matthew 5 that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Bad things will happen to good people and vice versa. There is no promise of immunity from struggle if only we are good enough.

There is, however, the promise that God will walk alongside and sometimes carry us through the difficulties we could never bear on our own. God redeems what might seem to be irredeemable circumstances through a new insight, having the right words at the right time, strength you didn’t know you had, a kind word from a stranger, or the company of a good friend.

From what (or who) has God delivered you? What has God gotten you through that you know you could not have done on your own? How did God get you through it?

Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the strength, courage, etc. that God has given you to make it through the hard times.