Have you ever felt that Satan was out to get you and your family? Or when you are at your most vulnerable state that the chaos of this world hurls more bullets and bombs? It is as if the onslaught of a great wind is knocking me down sideways when I walk and waking me in the dead of sleep with the raw voice of impending disaster. Deliverance seems to be the theme of my life these days, and my prayers are pleas for God to deliver me and my family from first one thing then another.
Even before my daughter died last November, the events leading up to her death were traumatic and emotional. Now it seems harm is crouching behind every cracked door. For instance, yesterday morning I nearly was involved in a multiple car crash on the interstate. If I had not left my house later than is my custom to do, I would have been on the interstate instead of looking at the traffic backed up to from exit to the next. Later that day we drove in snow and sleet that started at the same time we were able to get on the road for a trip out of town. Then in the middle of the night when my husband and I were sound asleep in a hotel room, several men in the next room woke us with loud shouting, threats to kill us, and forceful shoving on the door of our room. We spent the next two hours barricaded behind our door waiting for the police to make an arrest so that we could flee this dreadful scene.
Later at the restaurant, the waitress asked how our morning was going, and I said, “Not too good, but I’ve already been through the worst thing that could happen.” She was kind with her apology, but said, “No, things could always be worse.” At that point I tried to reconcile the treacherous road of calamity in the flesh that tries to refute the belief that God is in control, that He loves me, and that my prayers for protection will be heard.
Unfortunately, I could not find the words to pray this time. Instead, my mind raced through the Scriptures copied here:
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”
Genesis 45:8 “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 46:2-4 And God spoke to Jacob in a vision in the night, saying, “I am God…I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph [Jacob’s son] will close your eyes.”
Psalm 108:4 For Thy lovingkindness is great above the heavens; and Thy truth reaches to the skies…be exalted…that Thy beloved may be delivered.
What I do not know how to pray I do know how to believe. That is, belief does not originate with my prayers – prayers which may or may not be according to the Spirit of God. But God’s word, infallible, irresistible, and irrefutable, stands solid regardless of what I cannot see or feel. Therefore, I will close my eyes and rest in His assurance that He will deliver me. I pray His Word over you, too!
Sixty-six books in a year 