DIVINE: Transformed by Knowing God as our Deliverer (Week 6)

Dear Friend,

For the first four weeks of our DIVINE study, we focused on knowing God as our Creator. (If you missed it, you can read or watch the summary of those weeks here.) In the coming weeks, we are going to seek to know God more as our Deliverer. This is also Holy Week, and I encourage you to take some time remembering what Jesus did during the days leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection! So, instead of giving you a lengthy list of verses to study this week, I'm just going to offer a couple of thoughts and questions for your reflection.

Essential to the idea of knowing God as our Deliverer is recognizing that we each need to be delivered. Each of us needs to be rescued from our sins and brought into the Kingdom of God as His children. But even once we are part of God's family, we can (and almost certainly will) find ourselves in situations where we need God to rescue us or someone we love. We can be trapped by all sorts of things - from addiction and sin, to physical or mental health troubles, to relationship struggles or financial difficulties. Haven't we all experienced times when we couldn't see a way out of some kind of trouble?

When the Israelite people were enslaved in Egypt, they cried out to God to deliver them and when the time was finally right, God sent his servant Moses to deliver the people from Pharoah. God sent the plagues and finally Pharaoh told Moses to take the people and go. But soon the people of Israel found themselves again in an impossible situation. The Red Sea was in front of them and Pharaoh's army was approaching from behind and they had nowhere to run. They were trapped.

We'll look more at this story in the weeks to come, but let's pause here for now. I want you to consider...
     What kind of deliverance or rescue are YOU waiting for?
     Where are you waiting for God to rescue you or someone you love from what seems like unavoidable trouble or pain?
     How long have you been praying and waiting for God to be your Deliverer in this or other situations?

In my simple human perspective, I often wish God wouldn't wait so long to answer our cries. When we or those we love are hurting, don't we want God to deliver us from the pain NOW? We don't naturally appreciate suffering. But we can learn to see suffering from God's perspective and even find reasons to be thankful for the difficulties we face as we experience God's presence and strength with us - not only as He delivers us from hard things, but as He walks WITH US THROUGH THEM.

I love how Jeremiah 32:17 reminds us that the same Sovereign Lord who created us is the Sovereign Lord we pray to and nothing is too hard for Him. If you are like me and you are right now waiting and praying for some kind of deliverance, I encourage you to memorize this verse and include it in your prayers. Write it down and keep it somewhere you will see and remember it often. Let's remind ourselves and confess to God that nothing is too hard for our Creator.

Jeremiah 32:17 (NLT)

17 O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

O Sovereign Lord, You did indeed make the heavens and the earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! No matter what we are facing right now, it is not too hard for You. You will either deliver us from what we are facing or You will walk with us through it. Either way, we ask God that You would let us experience more of your grace and power and presence. May we know You deeper as our Deliverer in the weeks ahead. In Jesus' name, amen.

That's it for this week, dear ones. I've put together some worship songs that encourage me to remember God's faithfulness. You can check them out here at my Divine Worship Playlist.

This week, may you be blessed by the Lord, the Creator of Heaven and earth, our Deliverer and Savior.

Love,
Melissa