God will rescue, and then he’ll be ready to rescue you again
By Dean Collins
If I were using a printed and bound Bible each morning, I would have worn out some pages. Each morning as I read Scripture and write, I use the YouVersion app. It allows me to highlight, take notes, and cut and paste verses with ease. I can grab a verse and place it on a page where I am writing my thoughts. The colors of the highlights are nearly unlimited, because you can set them yourself.
In some sections of Scripture I have few highlights—not many verses in Leviticus, for instance. But the Psalms look like a contemporary art gallery. Psalm 34 has 22 verses. Over time I have highlighted 16 of the 22 verses in almost that many colors. This means every time I read this psalm, something new I need jumps out at me. The backstory to this psalm is I Samuel 21. There we find David having escaped one king who is after him and ending up in danger again at the hands of another. In this case, he didn’t overpower the enemy with sword or sling. His method of escape was acting mentally unstable.
Consistent help
As you read Psalm 34 you discover nearly the first half is a song of praise. David gives his testimony of how God has rescued and delivered him. He lifts up words of praise for God’s consistent and mighty help.
A few nights ago I had dinner with another college president. We continued our conversation long after our plates were clean. I had the pleasure of serving on a committee that had just completed a ten-year evaluation of his university, required by our regional accreditor. I knew the difficulties this university had faced in the last decade. I knew the pain and struggle the president had experienced. I listened as he gave his testimony of God’s rescue.
He then asked me about some of our past challenges. My stories of challenge and impossible moments ended with the same acknowledgment of God’s rescue. Hearing each other’s testimony helped both of us. Taking time to share what God has done is important encouragement to others who are going through difficulty of their own.
Ongoing challenge
As I drove home the next day I learned of some new challenges at our school. But there are plenty of new opportunities, too. While I don’t particularly like it, I have learned that nearly every time we make spiritual advancement, new opposition and challenges seem to keep pace with our progress. As long as we live on this side of eternity, people will make mistakes, opposition will arise, stuff will break, and outside interference will come.
As I considered these new challenges, I found myself in a downward spiral. Praise was not on my lips. My earlier optimism had been slapped down. Uncertainty rose up and misery began to rise. I did some praying. My words were not eloquent. My prayer was pretty basic. It was another repeated request for help. It included some pretty significant frustration about the current challenge and then more requests for help.
This morning I returned to Psalm 34 and looked hard at the last half of this psalm. There David gives instruction to any who will listen. I found myself stuck on verse 17: “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
Repeated rescue
It was the reminder I needed. Like you sometimes I question whether God will listen again and deliver me from trouble one more time. Can we count or even remember all the times he has delivered us before? We don’t get to choose how God rescues or when, but we have our testimonies that show he has and he will again.
“No net of trouble can so hold us that the Lord cannot free us,” Charles Spurgeon wrote his Treasury of David. “Our afflictions may be numerous and complicated, but prayer can set us free from them all, for the Lord will show himself strong on our behalf. “
I pictured myself back at the dinner table with my fellow president. Between us we shared a lot of testimony of God’s faithfulness. I needed that night to help me remember that God will do what he says he will do. Every time.
You might not be overwhelmed by difficulty today. If you are not, then find someone and give them your testimony of what God has done for you in the past. Your praise of God today might just be what someone needs for the battle they will face tomorrow.
Your time with God’s Word
Psalm 34:1-22 ESV
Photo by Janosch Diggelmann on Unsplash
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