Symbiosis: Our Trust/His Salvation

Thinking about Psalms 37.40 this morning where David writes: "And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, because they trust in him." In the Hebrew literally it says: "And delivering, he will deliver them," which is a construction that means "The Lord will surely deliver his people from the wicked."

The foundation for this deliverance on the part of God's people is their trust in him; "because they trust in him." The foundation on the part of God is his own character; he will do what he says.

There is this interesting symbiosis here between our trust and God's salvation. When we trust in our God, he will surely deliver us from evil. When we do not trust in our God, then we are practically acting as if he were not our God. Why deliver people who don't trust in God as God?

The action point for us is that we work on continually and completely trusting in God at every moment, for every thing.

Does God Deliver? Or doesn't He?

Reading in Psalms 34.17, this morning: When the righteous cry for help the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their trouble. I went immediately (in my Bible reading plan) to Lam 3, where (in part) I read: “He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.” (Lam 3:7–9 ESV)

What's going on here? Does the Lord deliver, or doesn't he? I think that the answer is obviously, yes, He does; and no, depending on what we see as deliverance. This is a case where we must compare scripture with scripture. It would be easy to make a blanket statement "Based upon Ps 34.17, it's obvious that the Lord will deliver me out of any and all trouble I have when I cry for help."

Suffice to say, that part of the answer to this rests in the fact that our definition of what deliverance looks like and God's definition may be (and often is) radically different. This fact clears up a lot of misunderstanding. Notice also, that after Jeremiah laments for 20 verses that God is against him and blocks his way with blocks of stones, he suddenly pens out some of the most majestic words about God in all the scriptures: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam 3:21–23 ESV)

Sometimes deliverance can be in the form of "out of" our difficulties. Sometimes it can be in the form of deliverance "through" the problem. Other times it is deliverance "in the midst of." I don't think any of this deliverance violates what David has said. I say without hesitation that every martyr who has ever been killed on behalf of Christ would say, "Yes! God delivered me out of my difficulties (into life glorious and victorious)."