“And the king took an oath and
said, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress,”
This was at the end of king David’s life, his health was
failing. His life certainly had been
filled with challenges, some of his own making, some not. King David knew distress. But he was a man of God, a man after God’s
own heart. Why then was his life not a
bowl of cherries?
There are many preachers who give people the impression that
if a person just turns their life over to Jesus, they will make a bunch of
money and everything will be good.
However, when folks who turn to Jesus under that impression encounter
difficulties in life, as life undoubtedly will bring, they feel cheated or like
God has let them down. They become
discouraged.
We do not have divine immunity from distress. Scripture teaches that life this side of
Heaven will involve more than mere difficulties, it will include sufferings –
specifically for those who love and serve Jesus, and who believe in His
resurrection. Jesus said “If
the world hates me, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would
love its own. Yet because you are not of
the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you. Remember the word that I said to
you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they
will also persecute you.” (John 15:18-20a)
The apostle Paul also gives us this unfortunate Biblical promise “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
(2 Timothy 3:12)
“The difference
between a Christian and a non-Christian isn't the fact that a Christian doesn't
have distresses and doesn't have problems because I have just as much distress
and problem as an ungodly person has. The only thing is I have One who redeems
me out of them all. The ungodly not so. They've got to make their way the best
they can through them or perish in them or whatever. But the Lord will redeem
my soul out of all distresses.” (Chuck Smith)
We can have joy in knowing that Jesus will be with us
through all our problems, that He will deliver us and bring us out
victorious. When Jesus gave the command
to make disciples, he also made a promise, and He keeps His promises. “Go and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) You are not alone. Through every problem, Jesus is with you.
David did not say that the LORD kept his soul from distress,
rather that the LORD redeemed his life from every
distress. Not just some: all. May
each of us be able to confess with our mouth this praise of God, now and at the
end of our life on earth.
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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