Deliver Me!

Ever had someone let you down? I did, just today. Over the last two weeks, I have spent hours upon hours dealing with a certain office supply store that shall remain unnamed. I planned to pick up a printer for my new office. No big deal, right?

We Fail

Unfortunately, the store did not have the printer in stock that I preferred. So I ordered it online with the guarantee that it would be delivered to my office at church the next day (Thursday). Thursday came and went- no printer. Friday came and went- no printer. I waited over the weekend, then gave my local friendly office supply store a call. They explained they were not able to deliver my printer because no one was available for pickup. They had returned the printer to a warehouse and refunded my order (because I didn’t want a printer, of course).

After reassuring customer service that my office was located at a church, and we receive deliveries multiple times a week without any problems, I re-ordered the printer, once again with the guarantee of next-day delivery. It did not come Tuesday. It did not come Wednesday. Finally, on Thursday, it arrived- five minutes before a funeral service started at our church. I quickly showed the delivery guy where to drop off the printer and then hurried back to join the pastor and family members for prayer before the funeral. Impeccable timing.

But wait- there’s more! Today I took out my  new printer from the box, naïvely expecting a quick setup and a happy ending. But when I plugged in the printer, I received an error message. After another phone call to tech support, I was informed I should drop my new printer off at a repair shop 45 minutes away or have a refurbished printer delivered to my office as replacement for my new one (with 1-day delivery, of course). I had had enough of these shenanigans. I returned the defunct printer to the office supply store and asked for a refund. All I can say is, that wasn’t easy.

How many of us could share the same sob stories of times when life throws us a lemon? It’s probably a good practice to not place too much hope in your local office supply store. You probably shouldn’t bank on receiving life-saving products in 1-day delivery, because people in this world will fail you. They can’t always deliver. None of us can. But the good news is, God can.

God Delivers

God promises to deliver those who turn to him because he is a God of steadfast love (Ps. 6:4b; 86:13; 94:18). I wasn’t feeling a lot of love waiting in the return line today. That’s because I was dealing with broken, needy people like myself. But we can confidently declare that God will deliver us (Ps. 13:5; 145:13c-14) because we know God loves us (Ps. 21:7b; 31:10b; 52:1,8b). If you tend to doubt that God loves you, I encourage you to click on the verses I have listed for you. Read through each one. Meditate on them. God’s love is for us all is written about over and over again in Scripture, if only we would take time to look!

This is so much the case that the act of God saving his people is equated with God loving his people. They are, in fact, two sides of the same coin—love in word and love in deed. God loves you, so God will deliver you if you turn to him.

God will send from heaven and save me;
He will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
~Ps. 57:3c; cf. vs. 10; 69:13

Unfortunately, though, you may not think about God’s love too much until you need deliverance. Maybe you need a new printer today, like me. Life throws us lemons in a variety of ways; sometimes our troubles are insignificant, and sometimes they are very serious. You may need restored health. You may need to mend a broken relationship. You may need a large financial debt forgiven.

There is no easy button in life. Don’t count on your own resources, or on other broken people, to do for you what only God can do. At our core, we are all sinners in need of a Savior. That means, at the very least, we all need to cry out to God today for deliverance from our sin. No matter who you are, we all need deliverance. And only Jesus can deliver us from ourselves and our eternally damning sinfulness. What’s more, only Jesus loves us enough and is strong enough to deliver us from our temporary trouble life. Have you trusted in Jesus to save you eternally from sin? Are you trusting him now to save you from your temporary troubles?

After receiving a refund for my troublesome printer, I went back to my desk in my office. In 45 minutes I picked out and purchased a different printer on Amazon. It had more ink, better reviews, and cost me $40 less than the printer I had just returned to the store. Sometimes, there really is a better way. And make no mistake- trusting Jesus to deliver you from your eternal and temporary troubles is always the better way. Turn to the One who loves you most.

C.P.