Who’s Your Deliverer?

Those of you who follow my blog and subscribe to my newsletter know I never debate politics and seldom comment on world events. It’s not because I don’t care or don’t have opinions. It’s because my passion is to stir your hearts to open God’s Word and let His Holy Spirit instruct you personally. Then you experience Him as your Deliverer, not my intellectual gymnastics (which are barely somersault level).

Groaning Or Crying Out?

The past several months have been especially difficult—probably the hardest season of my writing career—at a time when our nation and world also feels unsettled. I’d like to know what’s TRUE. Who is right? Who has some answers that could replace the shifting sand with a firm foundation?

Of course, the answer is Jesus! Always!

But how do we switch out the sand for concrete when precious friends get seriously ill with Covid? When the writing deadline seems impossible to meet? When family and friendships are both treasured and overwhelming? When the persecution of brothers and sisters-in-Christ around the world is so heavy on your heart you can hardly breathe?

Lord Jesus, I need a Deliverer!

For months, I’ve felt like the Israelites under the heavy hand of ruthless taskmasters:

“The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.” Exodus 2:23b (emphasis added)

Wait…was I really crying out TO GOD? Or was I just groaning? Big difference.

Looking For A Human Deliverer

I’ll be honest. I’ve been groaning a lot. Complaining. It’s a discipline to cry out to the Lord for help and believe He’ll deliver! I tend to rely on a fallible human or think I can work harder or longer hours to make it better. Moses did the same thing:

“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.” Acts 7:23-25

Hrumph! If people would just do things the right way—AKA, my way—the world would be…a mess! If Moses had tried to lead the Israelites in a revolution when he was forty years old, he would have led them into an all-out slaughter.

Moses ran away to Midian, convinced he WASN’T Israel’s deliverer. I’ve tried relying on some humans to deliver me during the past few months, and every single one has failed to rescue me. Guess what that means.

I still have something to learn right where I am.

Does God Use Human Deliverers?

Moses spent another forty years as a shepherd in Midian. He learned to lead stupid sheep. He walked in front of them, understanding they’d scatter if he pushed them. He tended the wounded, coaxed the stubborn, and disciplined the obstinate. Then God called him to be Israel’s deliverer—at precisely the time Moses was certain he WASN’T.

“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ And God said, ‘I will be with you.’” Exodus 3:11-12a

Our God tends to use folks who don’t realize they’re His instrument. On one of my really “down days” last month, I had just finished my Bible study lesson in the Exodus study on this passage about Moses, and I cried out to the God of compassion who heard Israel’s cries:

“God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” Exodus 2:24-25 (emphasis added)

If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, I trusted my compassionate Father to hear my prayers, remember His promises made with the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, and look on me with the concern of my Loving Father in heaven.

Thirty minutes later, I received a text from a publishing friend I hadn’t heard from in nearly a year. I’d considered contacting her for advice but decided not to since I knew she was so busy. In her text, she recounted a dream she’d had about me the night before and asked if I had any idea what it meant—and then offered a phone chat since she had 25 minutes before her next meeting.

I bawled—and called her. She was the only one on this earth who could have given me the encouragement and advice I needed.

Yes, God sometimes uses a human deliverer—but oftentimes from the most unexpected places.

Who Are Your Taskmasters?

Perhaps your taskmasters are easily identifiable nouns (persons, places, or things). A boss. A mortgage. Unemployment. Broken relationship(s). Illness. Maybe you’re held captive to more insidious masters like: fear, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, etc.

Take a few minutes to cry out to God for help:

1. Ask Him to reveal the taskmasters that hold you captive.
2. Ask Him to show you His compassion as the Deliverer who hears, remembers, looks on and is concerned about you.
3. Ask Him to send some tangible encouragement your way—then watch for it and praise Him when it happens!

Today’s Question:

• Is there a special Scripture that God has used in your life to deliver you in especially difficult circumstances?

Tweet-Ables:

• When we need a deliverer, do we cry out TO GOD? Or just complain? Discover how Moses learned the difference.
• When all human effort to escape hard stuff fails, it usually means we still have something to learn right where we are.
• God sometimes uses a human deliverer but oftentimes from the most unexpected places.