Deliverance and Gratitude

It is easy to simplistically assume that if we trust in Christ and are considered by God to be his favored and adopted children then all should go relatively well for us—but of course that is not what the Bible teaches. Throughout the Bible we are reminded of the wide variety of reasons God chooses to providentially lead us through “the valley of the shadow of death.”

The good news for God’s favored children is that he delivers us—even in our dying. And when he “redeems” us from our trouble, whether temporal or eternal, we should be careful to broadcast his deliverance as broadly as possible. Consider Psalm 107, which says that some of God’s children “wandered in desert wastes” (v.4), others “sat in darkness and in the shadow of death” (v.10), some had trouble on the seas (v.23), and others simply fell into all kinds of problems due to their own foolish decisions (v.17).

No matter the dilemma, in each case in Psalm 107 the sufferers call out to the Lord, experience relief, and rejoice in God’s mercy toward them. Each act of “redemption,” we are told, needs to be celebrated. So when the Lord grants relief, regardless of how small it may be, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble” (v.2).