Deliverance

 A Series from the Psalms
God is my… Deliverer
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 34

 [God is many things to many people. In this series, we will be looking at various Psalms that completes the statement “God is my…” Maybe ultimately this answers the question that we all ask at some point in our life, “Who is God to me?”.]

  

In the 1972 survival thriller movie “Deliverance”, four suburban middle-aged men decided to spend the weekend canoeing on a river instead of playing golf. They thought it would be an adventure… but little did they know.

 

The river itself contained treacherous whitewater rapids. But it was the mountain men who posed the greatest danger, and the biggest need for deliverance.

 

The backstory of Psalm 34 is that David was running for his life from Saul. He decided to take refuge in the Philistine city of Gath. Unfortunately, someone recognized him as the anointed king of the Jews, and as the mighty warrior that people praised saying, “Saul killed thousands; David killed tens of thousands”.

 

Sensing another threat to his life, David decided to pretend that he was crazy. In the end it worked, and the king of Gath set him free. This doesn’t seem like a great story about God’s deliverance, but here’s what David wrote about it.

 

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.    NIV

Or…

¹⁷ The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
    He rescues them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
    he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.  NLT

 

You’ve probably never canoed down a raging river where mountain men are trying to bring a reign of terror on you. And you probably haven’t had to run for your life pretending like you’re crazy. But you may have found yourself in other circumstances where you felt like you needed the Lord’s deliverance; you needed the Lord to rescue you.

 

When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, here’s what he included about being delivered.

 

¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.          NIV

 

Eugene Peterson paraphrased the Lord’s Prayer like this in The Message.

 

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams