“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Psalms 34:17-19 NKJV
The Lord hears, delivers, is near, saves. Are we crying out to Him? Are our hearts broken (over our own sin, over what we see in the world)? Do we have contrite (remorseful) hearts?
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’” Exodus 13:17 NIV
‘They might change their minds.’ What would make us change our minds and go back to a type of slavery? Last Saturday at our discussion we talked about God’s will for our lives. July 12 we plan to talk about freedom. When we repent and surrender our lives, our wills to Jesus, we can walk in freedom.
“They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” Exodus 14:11-12 NIV
Then God led them to freedom through the sea on dry ground.
Today we should pray for our hearts to be focused on Jesus. He is our hope and deliverer. Jesus redeemed us from our sinful selves. We should pray for eyes to see His direction for our lives and the freedom we have when we walk in His will.
“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:2, 11, 13 NIV
