Devotional Messages

The God Who Delivers

You are literally one in over six billion - there are over six billion other people on this planet. That's six thousand, thousand, thousand others. You are one person on this vast planet. And this vast planet is but one planet out of the nine planets orbiting our sun. For that matter, our sun is but one in millions in our galaxy, which is one in billions in our universe.

"What is man that you make so much of him,
    that you give him so much attention,
that you examine him every morning
    and test him every moment?" (Job 7:17-18)

What a good question Job asked of the Lord. Why do you think God cares about you personally? God asks you to trust Him, to live His way, to bear up under persecution, to joyfully give thanks to Him in all situations. How can you know that God cares for you personally so that you can entrust Him with your life in this way?

I think the Israelites were asking themselves exactly the same question in the bit of history recorded in today's reading from Deuteronomy. The words of the Lord through Moses told the Israelites to go and attack and destroy, trusting that He was with them and would deliver them safely into the promised land. But they would be attacking the sons of Anakim, and "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?" (9:1-2).

Forty years earlier the Israelites were scared off by the Israeli spies telling them they had seen the descendants of Anak living in the promised land: "We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." (Num. 13:33) After God had removed His blessing from the Israelites and warned them not to attack without Him, they attacked the Anakim and were soundly defeated (Num. 13:25-14:45).

So we already know that the Anakim were forbiddable enemies, But what of the others also? The Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites? Seven nations "more numerous and mightier than the Israelites" (7:1).

What would you be thinking if you were standing as an Israelite soldier about to go into battle against seven nations stronger than yours? What would you think when God says to trust Him, that He will drive out those nations before you and deliver you into the promised land? ...Seven nations stronger and mightier than yours - and the Anakim are first up...

Isn't that similar to what we may face as Christians today? As Christians, we face war every day - the sinful desires of this world war against our soul (cf. 1 Pet. 2:11). And this war sometimes seems impossible to win - how can we go on serving the Lord against such odds!

Moses reminded the Israelites of the Lord's favour. He reminded them that the Lord had provided them with food from the heavens, that their shoes and clothes had not worn out, that they had been cared for and provided for and loved by God (8:1-10). In the same way, look to what the Lord has done for you, for assurance of His trustworthiness, His promise to deliver.

What has He done for you? He sent His Son to die for you, to be raised from the dead for you, to take your sins; and He forgave you and made you His child. What does He promise? He promises you eternal life with Him in paradise. Can you trust Him throughout your struggle in the meantime? Can you trust Him to deliver you as you face the "Anakim of this world"? Can you trust Him to be with you and see you through as you deal with the temptation troubling you now?

Paul faced many hardships, let's reread what he said concerning the afflictions he had faced in Asia:

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. (2 Corinthians 1:8b-11a)

Paul found that to rely on yourself when facing persecutions only reinforced how much you should instead rely on God. You see, it isn't God's trustworthiness that we should question, but our own. It is we who are untrustworthy, we who are unable to endure the persecutions, the temptations and desires of this world; not God.

It was the Israelites who were afraid of the Anakim, not God. It was the Israelites who failed to trust God when He asked them to the first time they faced the Anakim, then failed to heed His warning and fought them without His blessing, losing terribly (Num. 13:25-14:45). It was God who then provided for them in the desert and lead them again to the promised land to take their inheritance, and it was God who promised again to go ahead of them into battle.

God never let the Israelites down, they only ever let Him down. God never let Paul down, and He will never let us down. Trusting God is the sure bet, trusting in ourselves is relying upon failure. Let us 'rely on God, who raises the dead... He will deliver us.'

Pray now, considering those areas in your life where you are afraid to live God's way; pray that you would trust in God's direction, knowing His strength and power will be caring for you as you seek to please Him in your trust.