God's Protection And Deliverance

by L.M. Ross, Aberdeen, Scotland | Category: More Meditations In The Psalms | Aug 1992

God is "a God of deliverances" (Psalm 68:20), and many of His servants have proved this by experience.

Daniel's three companions are typical. With godly boldness they answered Nebuchadnezzar "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, 0 king" (Dan. 3:17). That chapter ends with Nebuchadnezzar declaring, "there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort". Paul speaks of the God who delivered him in the past out of a great death, who would also deliver him in present and future experiences (see 2 Cor. 1:10). David in the 18th Psalm - a Psalm of deliverance rejoiced in the mystery that God "delivered me because He delighted in me" (v.19). We continue our meditation on this aspect of God's character through the doors of Psalm 121.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come? My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth (vv.1,2).

These are not the eyes of the sightseer. Here is a pilgrim disciple who feels his need. The mountains which he sees in reality or by recollection are but a token of the One who is beyond them, for even "the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed" (Is. 54:10), but "before the mountains were brought forth ... Thou art God" (Ps. 90:2). The attitude of many today is just the same as recorded in Psalm 3:2, "Many there he which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God". The taunt of the nations was "Where is now their God?" (Ps. 115:2). The following verse gives the answer: "our God is in the heavens". And it is to this God (not the heavens or the hills) that the psalmist looks for help, to the God who "made heaven and earth" (Ps. 146:6).

Psalm 34 is a lesson from experience from one who was tempted and afflicted. To the onlooker, David was a madman (1 Sam. 21), and from that account it would seem that the fear of man had become a snare - no help for him in God! But the Psalm reveals his soul. David was in a desperate situation, but underneath were the everlasting arms of a God who is ever the refuge and strength of His own, a very present help in trouble. It is commendable, but should not really be surprising, if in the midst of trials we see the exercise of faith and trust in such a God, and not a display of fear even though "the mountains be moved the mountains shake". David recalls, "I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears" (Ps. 34:4).

Our lives as Christians are not lived in isolation - no man lives to himself or dies to himself (Rom. 14:7) - and David's experience affected others. Just as he looked to the Lord and was delivered, so his companions "looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces shall never be confounded" (Ps. 34:5). "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivereth him out of them all" (v.19), and as Peter said, it is only the Lord who knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation (2 Pet. 2:9). This deliverance can be a testimony to others who may have said, "There is no help for him in God".

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper (vv.3-5).

"The LORD is thy keeper" is the delightful theme of the Psalm, and the Lord was to David, in every way, his "keeper", his "protector". In that 34th Psalm already referred to, he declares that "the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them" (v.7). Unseen guardian perhaps, but there. We also can be thankful for the care of those "ministering spirits, sent forth to do service" (Heb. 1:14).

"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved". It is God's desire that His disciples be unshakeable, or as Paul puts it, "stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58). But there is much to distract us from this ideal. In Psalm 94, the psalmist considers the success of the wicked, the workers of iniquity. "Ho~ long" he cries, "shall the wicked triumph?" They were a sore trial to him! The wicked assume that the Lord will not see (Ps. 94:7) and they continue headlong in what is really a path of self-destruction, even though it has all the appearance of every prosperity. A consideration of this Psalm, and also, for example, Psalm 73, leads us to conclude that it is dangerous to equate material prosperity with spiritual blessing. Yet, too often, there is a deep, sometimes hidden, desire in our lives to possess - the danger is that desire develops into covetousness. The psalmist confesses in Psalm 73 "as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped ... when I saw the prosperity of the wicked". A similar condition is revealed in Psalm 94 - "my foot slippeth" (v.18). But we are now considering that the Lord is the keeper of His own, the One who will not suffer their foot to be moved! So it required a visit to the sanctuary, and it was there in the presence of the Lord that true values were regained (Ps. 73:17). It was at the moment that the psalmist said "my foot slippeth" that the mercy of God upheld him (Ps. 94:18).

The God of the psalmist was One who does not even slumber, far less sleep, and so it was with confidence that David said in Psalms 3 and 4, "I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustaineth me" and "In peace will I both lay me down and sleep: for Thou, LORD, alone makest me dwell in safety". There is evidence here of a child-like faith and confidence to which we do well to aspire. Do we really believe that there is a faithful One watching over every moment of our lives, guarding, protecting, delivering from foes seen and unseen? The confident message of the Psalms is that there is.

The LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night (vv. 5,6).

Yes, He is the day and night God! His protection is complete, and this is reflected in Psalm 61 which perhaps refers to a time when David was unable to be physically present at the place of God's dwelling - he may have been in exile. But God "is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27). His heart was overwhelmed and though he seemed "at the end of the earth", his God was not inaccessible. Indeed in verse 4 he says "I will dwell in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will take refuge in the covert of Thy wings". Where is this refuge? Surely' no less a place than the Mercy Seat, the very heart of God's dwelling, in the very presence of God. David lived there in spirit. The present dispensation equivalent is the Throne of Grace of Hebrews 4:16, the place to which with boldness, the people of God may come to receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. It's ever a day of much need, and much need therefore for each of us to be living in spirit in the very presence of God seeking, as Colossians 3 encourages, "the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God". The One who today is at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, is the same who is our shade at our right hand He is no distant Deliverer!

Psalm 142 records David's experience in the cave - it is the cry of a man in distress. There is no cave, however, which is so deep that it smothers the disciple's cry to his God. As in Psalm 61, David's spirit is overwhelmed within him, and there was no one at his right hand. "Look on my right hand, and see; for there is no man that knoweth me: refuge hath failed me; no man careth for my soul" (Ps. 142:4). For David, the cave was a place of learning and proving that while earthly friends may sometimes fail "there is a friend (lover) that sticketh closer than a brother". The Lord was at his right hand to be his shelter, "For He shall stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from them that judge his soul" (Ps. 109:31).

"No man careth for my soul bring my soul Out of prison" he cries in verses 4 and 7, and this leads us to consider:

The LORD shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul (v.7).

There is nothing more vital than the soul. If it is kept, then all is safe. This is not to say that the disciple will never encounter difficulties or problems or will never face trials as a result of his faith. He is not cocooned from adversity. Indeed the whole path of the faithful disciple is a taking up of his cross. What is promised, however, is a constant and protective Presence, to enable him to cope. This verse of Psalm 121 finds a delightful fulfilment in John 17 where the Lord Jesus prays for His disciples, "Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name ... while I was with them, I kept them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished ... I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one" (vv. 11-15). Blessed Master!

They all would say like Peter "I will not deny Thee", yet they all would be found sleeping while He prayed - they all would desert Him and flee - Peter would deny Him. Yet their souls were kept, and preserved through these experiences to serve Him in faithfulness.

The LORD shall keep thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and for evermore (v.8).

"This time" is like the "today" of Hebrews 3 and we are assured that the protective care of God continues on for as long as we need to be kept.

And so we say with David "Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden, even the God who is our salvation (Selah). GOD IS UNTO US A GOD OF DELIVERANCES" (Ps. 68:19-20).

L.M. Ross, Aberdeen, Scotland | Aug 1992
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