Deliverance
The title of this post came to me, without my even thinking about it. I am going with it. "Deliverance" is very timely. My take is not deliverance from temporal suffering, nor deliverance from lack of earthly amenities, but deliverance from our ignorance and neglect of Our God. The politics is behind us, I think. So now just maybe, we can examine why we have been moving away from God, but willing to listen to fake messiahs.
God has blessed this nation tremendously. Even in the worst of natural disasters, the death toll tends to stay below triple digits. Lest anyone is confused and wants to quote the triple-digit death toll of 9/11, that was a "man-made orgy" of murder, by men who left the "orgy" at a strip club to strip innocent citizens of their lives.
Stores are closing. Banks are failing. Stocks and bonds are falling. 401(k)s are bungee jumping without a cord. Folks are being given thirty or three days to vacate the house in which they have lived "forever." Those being put out on the sidewalk include three disabled women, all members of the same family. When I read the e-mail about their predicament, I was close to tears. I felt a mixture of sympathy and impotence. My heart wanted to reach out and help. My wallet, the real boss, simply pointed out reality to me. One ninety or ninety two-year old lady put a bullet in herself because she too was about to lose her home.
Yet, despite the tales of woe, blessings still abound. Neighbors, who themselves are struggling, have reached out to help the disabled ladies. The bank about to foreclose on the elderly lady, is allowing her to live out her years in the house, after she recuperates from her wounds.
We have elected a new president and congress in our quest for deliverance by human deliverers. We have invested quite a bit of our earthly treasure, $650 million in one case, to place these men and women in positions of power. We now have the worldly side covered, or so we hope. How about we welcome a Bona Fide Deliverer? Our Deliverer Par Excellence is ready, willing and very able to deliver us from what is really ailing us. We think that we are ailing from financial and political matters? The real lack is found in the decay in our culture, caused by our gradual straying from the principles that Our Heavenly Deliverer laid down eons ago, after He hung the stars, the moon, and the sun.
I hope that the following words of Scripture comfort all who read these words, as much as they comfort me.
Psalm 74:1-2, 10-12, 16-17, 21-23
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
Psalm 46:1-3
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Psalm 32:7
2 Chronicles 7:14
Philippians 4:6-7
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Psalm 91:1-2
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
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