Waiting for Deliverance

Have you ever been in a conversation, or watching television, or reading a book, and a word just flies right at you and hits you between the eyeballs? Not literally of course. That would be awkward and dangerous. But you hear or see the word, and you are moved by it? Can anyone relate?

This morning I was praying, and the word deliverance popped in my head. I started on a little rabbit trail in my thoughts and began piecing together what I believe to be the definition of this word. And then out of curiosity I looked to the dictionary aptly named Google.

Deliverance

Noun

de·​liv·​er·​ance\ di-ˈli-v(ə-)rən(t)s   , dē-\

Definition of deliverance

1: the act of delivering someone or something: the state of being delivered especially:  LIBERATION, RESCUE

2: something delivered especially: an opinion or decision (such as the verdict of a jury) expressed publicly

I wasn’t far off. I was thinking of it in the context of being rescued from something. Then I started wondering: Why this word? Why now would my thoughts, my prayers, be led in this direction?

I thought about how it’s Mother’s Day weekend and I was reminded of flower and gift deliveries coming to mamas across the nation this weekend. I thought about the delivery of all deliveries—the birth of a child. Without that big delivery we wouldn’t be celebrating such a holiday. And then I thought of the Israelites being delivered out of slavery. Jonah delivered from the belly of a whale. Daniel delivered from a den of lions, and the biblical examples go on and on.

The picture that forms in my head is these ginormous God-sized hands coming down from heaven, picking up a person from their desperate situation, and delivering them to a different place; a place of freedom, a place of safety, a place where wrongs are righted, a new place.

My family and I have been in a long, stormy season for the last year. Did I say long? It’s been long. We are tired. We are emotionally drained. We are seeking answers and resolutions. I wait anxiously for the day of deliverance.

And I wait.

Here’s what I’ve realized about deliverance. It’s swift and abrupt. One minute you are waiting for the Red Sea to part, and the next minute you are walking on a sandy path with walls of water on either side. What has me anxious, perplexed, doubting and frustrated is the season before the deliverance. The waiting. I hate it. I’m impatient. I want the answers. I want the angst to leave me alone. I’m so exhausted.

The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.²³ And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. ²⁴ Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:22-25 ESV

Wait. What? What were Paul and Silas doing as they waited in a prison cell, their backs thrashed from a beating, and their feet fastened in stocks? Oh yes, they were praying and singing hymns.

I don’t get it. I’m in this season of waiting. I’ve not been beaten. My feet aren’t in shackles. In fact, I’m pretty healthy. But the absolute last thing on my mind is to sing worship songs and praise Jesus. I do pray. Boy do I pray, or maybe it’s more like complaining to the Lord about my situation.

But God. Two profound word.

Here’s what God is whispering to me. He’s telling me He sees me, and He hears me. He’s telling me He understands the salary my husband needs to provide for our family. He’s telling me the full schedule our family keeps is not necessary, and to find rest in Him. He’s telling me that the challenges we face as parents, that seem overwhelming, will be redeemed. He’s telling me to lay down my worry, my weariness and heartache, and walk toward His grace.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18 NKJV

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 NKJV

Isn’t Romans eight beautiful? Doesn’t it warm your heart just a little and give you hope?

If Paul and Silas can sing praise songs while temporarily imprisoned for preaching the gospel in threatening locations, then I can certainly change my attitude toward my circumstances a little, right? In fact, I believe the waiting will pass a little quicker with a better attitude.

And then there’s this at the close of chapter eight.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 NKJV

If you are in a season of waiting. If you feel like you have reached the end of your rope. If you are weary from the fight. Then hear this. Deliverance is coming. And when it does, it will be swift. But while you wait, know this. Nothing can separate you from the love God has for you. Absolutely nothing.