When I taught Kindergarten, I remember one particular concept in a Bible lesson being a challenge—God delivered His people from the hand of the Egyptians.
I’m a firm believer in the importance of comprehension, so I never skipped over the word “delivered” with the assumption five- and six-year-olds understood its meaning; and I found in this context they didn’t.
To them, “delivered” meant UPS leaving a package on their doorstep. As cute as this was and as much as it made me smile, I did my best to improve their understanding of “delivered” in a biblical context because we weren’t talking about Amazon Prime!
We are DELIVERED.
Delivered occurs 145 times in 142 verses of the NASB Bible, and that’s not including synonyms for delivered: saved, brought them out, redeemed, forgave, pardoned, consecrated, purified, sanctified.
Before we consider how we are delivered, let’s acknowledge why we are delivered.
For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” Mark 9:31 (NASB)
Throughout Scripture, Jesus goes before us; He is the beginning, the firstborn. (Colossians 1:18) He was delivered first—into the hands of men to die. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He delivers us from the penalty of our sins.
But that’s not all…
This week, in my study of the Psalms, a phrase stood out in 107:6: Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses. This message, using synonyms for delivered, repeats in verses 13, 19, and 26.
Through the repetition, I concentrated on what they (and we) are delivered from.
1. Feeling Lost: Have you ever felt forgotten, misled, wandering, confused about your next step? When we cry out to God, He leads us by a straight way, to go to an inhabited city (107:7)
2. Imprisonment: When we rebel against the word of God or spurn the counsel of the Most High (107:11), our sin makes us dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains (107:10). When we cry to the Lord, He brings us out of darkness and the shadow of death and breaks our bands apart, shatters gates of bronze and cuts bars of iron asunder (107:14, 16).
3. Being a Fool: There’s no other way to say it; our sins and rebellious ways turn us from the wisdom of God, making us fools (107:17). But, when we cry out to God, He sends His word to heal us and deliver us from our destructions or pits (107:20).
4. Storms of Life: Life is unpredictable. We can feel like we’re rising to the heavens, then down to the depths until our soul melts away in misery (107:26). We reel and stagger like a drunken man until we’re at our wits’ end (107:27). When we cry to the Lord, He causes the storm to still and hushes the waves (107:29). We can be glad for the quiet as He guides us to our desired haven (107:30).
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found myself in all four places. But, praise God, Jesus has DELIVERED us from all of them, so let’s give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men (107:8, 15, 21, 31)!