Kept 2!

Kept 2!

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; Psalms 34:19 NIV

As I read today's extract, the first thing that requires sorting out is my identity. If I will access the blessing and benefit spelt out here, I have to first define and determine who I am. The identity spelt out here is the 'righteous'. It is not necessarily those who are moralists by the world's standard, or people who have learnt how to pretend, but this is about people who have come to put their total and complete trust in God. No matter what the earthly achievements are, they know they are defined by who God is in their lives. They do not rely on or are defined by the ephemeral things such as bank account balances, circle of influence or friends, political or economic connections and the other things that give mortal man false comfort, but all their hope is in God. Can I be defined as such a person? 

David, who wrote this psalm, knew what being righteous actually meant. In the early parts of the book of Psalms, he moved from being sure of the cleanness of his hands to being dependent on God's grace and mercy. There is no room for self-righteousness and pride; no room for self-promotion. It has be total and complete dependence on God. Being righteous according to God's standard does guarantee that there will be no issues or troubles but it simply means that you have the help of a God who is in charge of all of life and can lift you up. Life itself is a guarantee of tough times, but the joy is that before the tough times come, God is already offering help that is fit and meet for the times that are coming. 

The Lord delivers; that is his nature and his promise. All through the accounts of the Bible, this power/attribute is made clear. He does not say we won't lack, but he says he will provide all our needs. He does not say we won't be ill, as is the way of the human race, but he says he will heal. How would I appreciate provision and healing if there were no situations that required these? When I read of a promise of God, the only way for me to fully enjoy and understand the benefits of the promise is for me to experience the circumstances that led to the promise being made. David knew this, as his life story made it clear that he was a man who enjoyed God's protection from trouble at different times, even the ones that were of his making. 

And that is the other thing about God: never holding a grudge or holding my offence over me forever. His love makes it impossible for him to be angry forever, as long as I repent and return to him. For all who are parents, we know the love we have for a wayward child; imagine then the heart of love of a God who is himself called Love, and imagine the extent he is willing to go to prove his love to us, no matter what it is that we have done. No distinction is made here between the troubles I cause by my own mistakes, or the ones that come as a result of simply being human. No matter how many they are, or how terrible they get, God is saying he has all things under his control. ALL means all, not almost all. He won't be Lord of all, if there was anything that he could not control. 

Whatever it is, lay it all down at the feet of the Lord of all. It may be heartaches, hills, valleys, illness, financial crisis, uncertainty about the present and future, marital or job-related issues. Whatever they may be, God says he delivers from them all. From the accounts of the Bible from creation to revelation, it is clear that this God can do whatever he says he will do. All I need to do is trust him by leaving the problems in his hands. If I don't leave them there, it means I don't trust him to deal with them. If I leave them with him, I can't be worrying and fretting about how he is dealing with them. That is his prerogative. All I am asked to do is leave it all, trust him completely and know that he will not disappoint. That is enough for me. What of you? God's time of favour is here.