Week 2 Devotion
When Deliverance Looks Different Than You Expected 

PODCAST: When Deliverance Looks Different Than You Expected
 
As we read the Psalms we see that David had complete confidence that God would deliver him from his enemies, protect his life, and restore him. We wrote previously about the degree to which the Psalms apply to us. However, sometimes we don’t see the type of immediate temporal deliverance David spoke of. Which leads us to question what God’s deliverance means in the life of the believer?
 
The New Testament does speak of God’s protection and provision in the life of believers. But why does it sometimes seem not to match the ongoing suffering and trials we see around us or in the lives of sincere believers?

Delegating the Question of Suffering
I would not be as arrogant or insensitive to presume that I can tell you the reason God allows suffering. There are several books that address this issue from people with far more wisdom, and in some cases, experience with suffering than I.
 
Although I have not read these books by Joni Eareckson Tada, I know that Joni has lived, and still does live, with great suffering, perhaps beyond what you may realize. It is not just her accident as a youth, but current illness, chronic pain, and relational challenges. No one could question her understanding of what it means to suffer or her heart and faithfulness to God. So, her books may be a good starting point for those asking why God allows suffering.

• Making Sense of Suffering
• When God Weeps: Bible Study
• Encouragement Pamphlet Assortment Pack

 
With that issue out of the way, I want to direct our attention to the question of deliverance, and when it does not come in the form we expected.

Expecting a Different Form of Deliverance
Israel was told that God would send a Messiah. The Messiah would be the eternal King and would deliver Israel and rule for all eternity. So, Israel was expecting a conquering warrior Messiah who would deliver them the Roman empire and usher in an earthly kingdom. But, Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world and that He came to usher in an invisible kingdom to rule and reign in our hearts. The epistles also state that Christ came to deliver us from the wrath of God and the power of the enemy.
 
Now, Jesus will return and rule and reign on this earth. But, for now, His kingdom is in our midst. This was not what Israel was expecting at all. They were still under the thumb of Rome and they still suffered through the trials and sickness of life.
 
Jesus did offer deliverance to Israel during His earthly ministry and resurrection. He did bring the kingdom of God to rule and reign. He did free Israel from captivity. But, this deliverance looked different from what Israel was expecting.
 
God’s Deliverance in the Life of the Believer
God has Provided Spiritual Deliverance to Us.

• He has delivered us from the sentence of death due to our sin: He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again.
2 Corinthians 1:10

• He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Colossians 1:13
• Delivered from burden, judgment, and shackles of the law and freed to serve God in newness of Spirit (Romans 7:6)
• Delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:21

 
Jesus has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Ephesians 1 details the embarrassment of eternal riches He has blessed us with. Meditate on these and take comfort and find joy in them.
 
Jesus came the first time as a humble sacrificial lamb, He will come again as the conquering victorious King. When He returns, we will be fully self-actualized and transformed into the perfect version of our true selves.
 
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. 1 John 3:2-3
 
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4
 
God does and can provide immediate, earthly deliverance from trials and suffering. But, this is not how He always works.

• God told Paul that he would suffer for Christ and the Holy Spirit led Paul to Rome where he died.
• Jesus told Peter the manner in which he would glorify God in death

 
A part of understanding deliverance is perspective. Know that suffering is a normal part of the Christian life. Christians will not be spared all suffering. Nor should we want to as experiencing suffering helps us understand and experience the grace and love of God.

Suffering is to be Expected in this Life
1 Peter 4:12-19 tell us not to be surprised by trials as some strange thing were happening to us. It is not some unusually unexpected thing that we should suffer. People, including Christians, have suffered throughout history.

• Stephen was stoned
• Paul beheaded
• Peter crucified upside down
• James the apostle killed by the sword in the days of the early church

Some See Earthly Deliverance Other Obtain a Greater Spiritual Blessing
Hebrews 11 is a key chapter in understanding the gospel. It lists the victories of the saints over the ages. In this chapter, we see the great triumphs of the saints.
 
who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.  Hebrews 11:33-35a
 
These are powerful triumphs over suffering and the world.
 
But this chapter also lists the ways in which the saints have suffered.
 
There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. Hebrews 11:35b-38

Ultimately it's an Issue of Faith
It is not up to us to question God’s plans. When Jesus told Peter that Peter would suffer and die, Peter asked what would happen to the other disciples. Jesus answered, “If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
 
What is it to us how God works in the lives of others? He calls us to sacrifice ourselves and follow Him. Remember, we must keep our eyes on Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith. The first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity (AMP). Hebrews 12:2
 
The three Hebrew children who were going to be thrown into the fiery furnace (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) showed this type of faith in God. They chose to trust God regardless of their deliverance from the furnace. Their statement of faith is found in Daniel 3:17-18.
 
If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Daniel 3:17-18
 
They knew that God was able to deliver them, and that one way or another He would deliver them in this life or the next, but either way, they would serve God only.
 
Dealing with disappointment in how God chooses to deliver us is ultimately a decision to believe God and to submit to His authority, wisdom, and love.
 
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
 
His ways are not our ways and we cannot understand Him. When Job asked for an explanation God asked where was he when God created the foundations of the earth. We cannot understand God any more than an inchworm can understand the theory of special relativity. We need to trust and obey what He has shown us to do.
 
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29
 
Many of you have heard the analogy that God is weaving a tapestry. The top of the tapestry is a beautiful masterpiece. But the underside is a tangled mess. We only see the underside. God sees the top and He is making us into His beautiful and perfect creation and preparing for us to live in perfect unity and communion with Him, the creator of the universe, for all eternity.
 
Beloved, this is our hope. God will ultimately deliver us, whether it is in this life or the next. He will persevere us and transform us for His glorious kingdom and for all eternity.
 
And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 2 Timothy 4
 
For further reading: 2 Corinthians 4:8-18
 

Last edited by TBG (5/05/2017 1:43 pm)

Psalm 17

17:2 From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right!

Am I willing to let my vindication come from God in His time? Or, do I insist on being proven right on receiving justice now? Insisting on immediate justice and one's own vindication can lead to anger and prevent one from being a good witness and ambassador for the Lord. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.  James 1:20.
 

Psalm 31

31:3  For You are my rock and my fortress; and for Your name's sake You lead me and guide me;

O: He leads and guides on the basis of His character and nature, because of who He is - faithful, loving, good.

A: This is a great encouragement because it provides reassurance that His guidance is not dependent on my fickle performance and it is not because of some bargain - it is inherent in His identity - it is what He does. It makes me feel confident that I can rely on Him always leading me.

31:5  Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
I can entrust my spirit into the hands of the one who paid my ransom, who obtained my release from the prison of sin and self by making the payment demanded. Wow!

31:14  But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
But I trust in You, Yahweh/Jehova, I say You are my Elohiym

The all powerful ruler and creator of the universe has a personal intimate covenantal relationship with me and that is the God I can trust.

Discussion Question:
In what ways have you found comfort in God when you feel broken or forgotten?

I think just pouring out everything I feel the good bad ugly confused hurt, just being laid bare and being honest with God. As I cry out He usually helps soothe me and redirect my thinking and gives me comfort.

It is like gracefullyovercoming said "As we pray and cry out to God, He knows the desire of our hearts. So for me, this means: praying it out. Not pretending I am fine when clearly I am not, but just being willing to be honest and cry it out."

Psalm 140

140:13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.

Could I want more than this? to live continually in the presence of God? As believers we do. He lives in us and with us. Do we live aware of His presence and communing with His presence or busy and distracted and ignoring His Spirit?

I want to live with a quiet mind that is at peace and is at rest and is aware of His love, protection and leading presence with me.

Discussion Question: I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. (Psalm 140:12). If we are to be about doing God’s work, in what way can we cooperate with Him in the purpose stated in this verse?

lobbying for and bringing attention to the cause of the afflicted and their affliction; contending for the afflicted;
Giving justice or trying to obtain justice for those who need it
 

Week 3 Devotion
What Does the Lord Require of Us?

PODCAST: What Does the Lord Require of Us?
 
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micha 6:8
 
This week we have read a lot about how David called for vengeance against the enemies of God and himself. We have also read of God’s concern for the oppressed and the needy. In reading these psalms, Micha 6:8 is what came to my mind.
 
But, first, let’s look at the verse in context. This is about God’s indictment against Israel for being unfaithful to Him.

God's Indictment Against Israel 
Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against His people, and He will contend with Israel.

"O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD."

"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micha 6:1-8

What do we see in this passage? 
God has an indictment, a formal charge or accusation, against Israel.
 
He lists all that He has done for them. He redeemed them from slavery and saved them from destruction.
 
What was Israel's response? They gave Him burnt offerings while disregarding the very standards He wanted them to live by. They gave Him religious acts but not their heart, obedience, and lives.
 
God did not want their burnt offerings when they were not actually doing the things He required of them in their lives.

The New Millennium Edition
Let’s see how this verse would read if it were written for our times.
 
The Lord has an accusation against His church. What have I done? Have I burdened you? I brought you out of your sins and destruction and paid the ransom for you to be freed from the power of the enemy. I paid the penalty for your sin and set you at liberty. I saved your soul from the pit. You are no longer under condemnation because I drank the full cup of my wrath that should have been poured out on you.
 
With what do you come before Me? What do you offer to Me? Do you offer Me your religious acts? All your righteousness is like a filthy rag. There is no one who is righteous, no, not one. Do you think your good deeds, your religious activities, your church attendance is what I want? No, I have already told you what I require. I require that you do justice, love kindness and walk with Me in humility.
 
Wow! Now, what do we think of that? Let’s look more closely at this verse and study its meaning.

What the Lord Requires
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micha 6:1-8

Do Justice
To “do justice” means to accomplish or bring about justice. Justice means rendering to every one that which is his due. To do justice means to act or treat justly or fairly.

Love Kindness
The Hebrew word translated kindness in the ESV means goodness, faithfulness, and mercy. Mercy is not giving someone the punishment they deserve.
 
We must not give people the punishment they deserve. It is to extend compassion as God extended us His compassion in His grace towards us.
 
If we want God’s forgiveness, how can we not extend forgiveness to others? In the Lord’s prayer, we say forgive us in the same way we forgive others. In Matthew 18:33 we see in the parable of the unmerciful servant that the servant who was forgiven much should have forgiven those that owed him little.
 
Oh, I see, you owe God little since you have not done anything that sinful and others owe you much since they have wronged you greatly.
 
Well, your sin towards God is worse than we appreciate. We see this with David and Saul.
 
God took the kingdom from Saul and even removed His presence from him. Saul would not obey God over the people or over his own desires. We see this pattern to the end of his life when he had a chance to repent he always elevated himself and his strength over God.
 
David, on the other hand, was shirking his responsibilities and lusting after another woman when he already had more wives than God told him to. He then committed adultery with this woman and betrayed her husband’s faithfulness and trustworthiness by having him carry his own death sentence. After betraying and murdering her husband he took the woman for his pleasure.
 
Now we would say what David did was far, far worse than anything Saul did. But God said David was a man after God’s own heart and holds him up as a hero of faith. Meanwhile, He says he regrets making Saul king because Saul turned away from obeying God. 1 Sam 15:11
 
What is going on here? Well, David had a heart of repentance. When he wronged God he repented in sincerity and strengthened himself in God; he did not elevate himself.
 
Saul tried to usurp God’s authority in a pattern of disobedience and self-exaltation. This is the original sin of Satan himself. He wanted to be like God and tried to elevate himself instead of God and did not want to be subject to God’s rule.
 
We do the same thing. We usurp God’s authority in our lives when we are disobedient to Him and elevate our desire for accomplishment, or glory, or recognition, or comfort, or fulfillment above our desire for God to be exalted and obeyed. We want credit for ourselves instead of giving credit to God.
 
This rebellion against the almighty, sovereign, holy, creator and God of all things is much more serious than our sins against each other. And, yet, God forgives us. So how much more so must we forgive others and extend loving kindness and mercy.
 
If we don’t extend love to others, we don’t know God. 1 John 4:7-8

Walk Humbly 
Walk – live life, manner of life, to go through life
Humble – showing deferential submission or respect
 
Do we walk through life deferring to God’s authority and showing respect for His lordship and submitting to His will?
 
Do we walk through life thinking we are better than other “sinners” or “less holy” or “less spiritually mature” believers?
 
Romans 12:3 reads, “for by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
 
A non-inspired paraphrase: Don’t think you are better than you really are? Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
 
God has given each of us different measures of faith. Examine your own life and evaluate your own walk and don’t try to think you are better than other believers. Let them work out their own faith with fear and trembling and you teach, encourage, correct and edify one another.
 
We should not get puffed up in our talents, abilities, success, and cultivate a critical spirit of those who struggle or those who don’t walk with the Lord. Jesus wept over Jerusalem and longed for them to come to Him. How much more so should we weep for those who are lost and long for them to find healing and to respond to them with loving compassion coupled with loving truth and loving boundaries.
 
God has redeemed us, God is doing the work making us holier, God is at work in us. It is not anything special in us or anything special we have done. It is a gift of God, so no one has cause to boast of that which is a freely given gift to them.
 
So, let us do what God has clearly told us to do. Work to obtain justice for those that can’t speak for themselves, show mercy and lovingkindness to those who offend or hurt us, walk in humble obedient submission before God and towards others.
 
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micha 6:1-8