HE HEARS AND HE DELIVERS: He is closer than any friend. He is not drained by you constantly calling on him. You can talk to him anytime, anywhere, and tell him anything. You can take to him everything that concerns you.
You can even trust Him in the middle of your adversities when things go from bad to worst. He delivers on his promises. How can we be sure?
We are journeying through the Book of Psalms. This week we look at portions of Psalms 139 and Psalms 121. In these Psalms, we are assured that God hears us and delivers us.
Take this journey with us and with God and His heavenly host as we learn how and what it means to pray using the Psalms.
The Psalms are prayers, and hymns snugged within the heart of the Bible.
Bursting forth in praise, exultation, sorrow, and sometimes hearts of desperation, these sacred verses have been echoed in private prayer closets and in public spaces alike.
The Psalms have been expressed on the lips of people from every walk of life, from the person standing on the street corner to top leading officials.
Psalms are choruses that transcend time and space.
As we journey through the Psalms, may they be a guiding light to lead you into a deeper relationship with God.
Review our past and present videos at SabbathSchoolDaily.com or visit my YouTube Channel,
Sabbath School Daily by Dr. Brenda Ware Davis
Inviting God’s Presence:
Father, we thank you that you are never too busy to listen to us when we pray. We are grateful that you not only listen to our concerns but you take action. We ask for your deliverance, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Psalms
(Lesson 4)
The Lord Hears and Delivers
Day 1
We are encouraged to keep our wants, our joys, our sorrows, our cares, and our fears before God. Different from any human, we cannot burden Him; we cannot weary Him. He not only hears us, but He also delivers us. This is the point Psalms 34:17 makes.
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17, NKJV).
Over and over, the Psalms make it clear that God, who created everything and takes care of the entire universe, shows Himself to be a personal God who extends his hand to obtain a personal relationship with us. He not only pursues us, but it is also within His power to sustain our relationship with Him.
Thus, He does not stand off somewhere at a distance. Like a parent protecting their child, the psalmist declares in Psalms 73: 23 He holds our hand.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. (Psalms 73:23)
Thus, this psalmist in Psalms 73:25 concludes his poem by saying:
25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. (Psalms 73:25)
Although the psalmist in Psalm 103:19 tells us God “has established His throne in heaven” and “rides on the clouds,” according to Psalm 68:4, Psalm 145:18 tells us he is still “near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).
The Psalms continuously remind us that the Lord is the living God. He is alive, and He actively helps those who honestly seek His help.
Notice what the psalmist in Psalm 55:16–22 resolved based on his own personal experiences with God.
16 As for me, I will call upon God, And the Lord shall save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.
18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, For there were many against me.
19 God will hear, and afflict them, Even He who abides from of old. Selah Because they do not change, Therefore they do not fear God.
20 He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has broken his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, But war was in his heart; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:16-22)
Like all the other writings in the Bible, the Psalms matter! They are important to us because they are inspired by and addressed to the true and living God, the one who listens and responds to our prayers.
Therefore, it’s important to know that, like the psalmist, the proper response, knowing how close God is to us, is to live a life of faith, trusting fully in Him, and obeying His commandments. Anything less than trusting Him and doing what He says is unacceptable to Him, just as revealed in the history of Israel.
I love what it says in the book Steps to Christ about developing the habit of having open communication with Him. It says:
We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial, our thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun.
Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. . . . His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3. The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare.—Steps to Christ, pp. 99, 100.
Now, how is that for assuring us of God’s willingness to deliver?
How can we be certain He will hear and deliver us out of our distress?
Pause and Read carefully Psalms 139:1-18, then View the next segment of this video: Day 2: My Frame Was Not Hidden from You
Psalms
(Lesson 4)
The Lord Hears and Delivers
Day 2: My Frame Was Not Hidden from You
Have you ever wanted to help someone but just could not because you did not have the means or the resources to do it? What about you? Have you ever been in distress, and someone attempted to help you, but they just did not have the ability to do so? Well, unlike even the most loving person or our closest human friend, God knows everything about us and our needs, and He has the power to fulfill our wants and needs. As a matter of fact, he is willing to give us the desires of our hearts according to Psalm 37:4.
Moreover, the psalmist in Psalm 139:1-18 poetically describes God’s greatness and demonstrates his willingness to keep his promises.
He talks of God’s powerful knowledge in Psalm 139:1-6 saying:
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1-18)
In Psalm 139:7-12 he talks of God’s mighty presence.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. (Psalm 139:7-12)
Then in Psalms Psalm 139:13-18 he talks of God’s awesome goodness.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. (Psalms 139:13-18)
This Psalm confirms that God’s promises to deliver us are not just idle words. They are a sure thing. He cares about us, and he is able to deliver us.
From this Psalm, it is evident that God knows us; he understands our situation and our circumstances, and He has the means and the power to deliver us.
Therefore, His promises of help and deliverance are not shallow words but firm assurances that he cares, and he will deliver.
Keep in mind that the Psalms are poems written by men but inspired by God. Thus, the psalmist led by God in
Psalm 139:13 and 15 tells us that God knew him long before he was formed in his mother’s womb.
And in Psalm 139:2, the psalmist points out that God’s knowledge is connected to our moments in time,
Psalms 139:2, 4, tell us he knows our inner thoughts.
In Psalm 139:3, we find that he even knows the space we occupy.
In other words, God’s knowledge of us encompasses our entire existence.
God’s amazing knowledge of each of us is the result of Him creating us. We owe our entire being, our entire existence, to him.
As our creator, He loves us, and his love is manifest in his care for us.
Knowing how much God so deeply loves us and how intimately he knows us should not make us afraid of him.
Instead, it should draw us closer to Him and to Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross, for it is by our faith in Jesus that are made righteous. You see, having Jesus’ righteousness is like having God’s righteousness, for they operate as one. See Romans. 3:5-21.
The Psalmist in Psalm 139:8-12 depicts God’s presence as limitless; it has no bounds. The psalmist expresses this by saying in Psalm 139:8, 11, 12 that his presence reaches even as far as hell, that is, the “grave” and “darkness.” These are places we typically would not expect God to be. Yet Psalm 56:13 lets us know that he delivers us from death and darkness:
13 For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living? (Psalms 56:13)
What’s more, in Psalm 139:9, the Psalmist indicates that His presence also goes from sunrise to sunset, that is, from the east to the west, covering the whole earth.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, (Psalm 139:9).
What does this say? It tells us that there’s no place in the universe that God can’t reach. Even though God isn’t part of the universe, as some might believe, He’s close to everything because He made it and keeps it going. This is the point Hebrews 1:3 makes when it says:
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3)
Therefore, if God knows everything about us, it stands to reason that He can deliver us and restore us.
Concluding that God cares for him and can deliver him, the psalmist in Psalm 139 responds with an outburst of praise and renewed trust in God. He welcomes God examining him because he knows it helps get rid of anything that interferes with his relationship with God.
Some might feel uneasy that God knows so much about them, even their deepest darkest secrets. Should we be concerned, that God might reject us because of our darkest secrets?
To find out, Pause and read Psalm 40:1-3, Psalm 50:15, Psalm 55:22, and Psalm 121 to determine how intricately God is involved in our daily affairs. Then continue to the next segment of this video; Day 3: Assurance of God’s Care
Psalms
Psalms
(Lesson 4)
The Lord Hears and Delivers
Day 3: Assurance of God’s Care
Psalms reveals that God intervenes when we are in distress. For instances,
Psalm 40:1-3, Psalm 50:15 show how much God cares for us and how intricately he is involved in our daily affairs.
Psalms 40:1-3 says:
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.
Psalms 50:15
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
Not only is he involved when we are in distress. Psalms 55:22 and Psalm 121 indicate that He is intricately involved in our daily affairs.
Psalms 55:22
22 Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalms 55:22)
Psalms 121
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore. (Psalms 121)
In other words, in the Psalms, as with other scriptures in the Bible, the Lord reveals himself as the Living God who acts on behalf of those who call on him for help.
For example, in Psalm 16, the psalmist expresses in Psalm 16:8, “the Lord [is] always before me” (Psalm 16:8).
And because God is always present, the psalmist declares in Psalm 7:1 and Psalm 9:10 that he trusts God and calls on him for help in time of need.
Psalms 7:1
1 O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me, (Psalms 7:1)
Psalms 9:10
10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. (Psalms 9:10)
We in Psalm 130:1 and 2 are assured that the Lord hears us, and he hears our cries even when we are in “deep trouble”
Psalms 130:1-2
1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
This lets us know that God has the power to change our circumstances. He is our God, and he can solve every problem we face. Because of that, like the psalmist, we can always have hope, no matter how bad our situation, that Gold will deliver us. (Psalm 130:1, 2).
Going back to Psalm 121; we see that the Psalmist celebrates the power of God, pointing out that because of His power,
- Psalm 121:3: God can save us. The psalmist declares in Psalm 121:3 that God will not allow our “foot to be moved.” (Psalm 121:3). Now the image of a “foot” often points to one’s life journey as in Psalm 66:9, Psalm 119:105, and Proverb 3:23. But, the Hebrew word for “move” is also descriptive of the security that God gives to the world as in Psalm 93:1 and to Zion Psalm 125:1.
- Psalm 121:3 and 4: Because of God’s power, we have Him as our protector; He who keeps us continuously, as expressed in Psalm 121:3, does not slumber; in other words, he never goes to sleep on the job. This emphasizes God’s constant alertness and his readiness to action on our behalf. He is always ready to rescue us and keep us safe.
- Psalm 121:5, 6: Because of the power of God. We always have shade. The Lord is “our shade.” He protects us the same as the shade protects us from the sun. This picture of God as our shade is also a reminder of the “the tall cloud” spoken of Exodus 13:21, 22. The Lord used a cloud to protect his people from the heat of day in the desert and to lead them to the Promised Land. In the same way, the Lord continues to protect and lead his people safely to the land promised in heaven.
- Psalm 121:5 – Because of the power of God. He is at our right hand. He is our keeper; The Lord is our shade at our right hand. (Psalm 121:5).
The use of the phrase right hand generally represents a person’s stronger hand. It shows God is ready to act to help His people. See Psalm 74:11; Psalm 89:13. But here, the emphasis is on the Lord’s closeness to His people and it emphasizes His favor toward them see Psalm 16:8; Psalm 109:31; Psalm 110:5.
5 Finally, Psalm 121:6-8, Because of the power of God, He is able to protect His people from every danger. God will keep His us safe from all evil. As a matter of fact, it says in verse 6, The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
In other words, God will keep His children safe when they travel from their homes and when they come back.
The bottom line is God cares for us very much. He is always at work to deliver us from the evil traps that Satan puts in our way.
Thus, even when we experience adversity, we can trust God.
How can we maintain our trust in times of adversity? Pause and Read Psalm 17:7-9, Psalm 31:1-3, and Psalm 91:2-7 notice what the Psalmists do in times of trouble. Then view the next segment of this video, Day 4: The Lord Is a Refuge in Adversity
Psalms
(Lesson 4)
The Lord Hears and Delivers
Day 4: The Lord is a Refuge in Adversity
What does the psalmist do in times of trouble? He seeks refuge. He turns to the Lord in prayer according to
Psalms 17:7-9
7 Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You From those who rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
9 From the wicked who oppress me, From my deadly enemies who surround me. (Psalms 17:7-9)
Psalms 31:1-3
1 In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness.
2 Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.
3 For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me. (Psalms 31:1-3)
Here, we see that the psalmist encounters many troubles. In the midst of his troubles, he goes to the Lord for help. The Lord is to him like a home or shelter that is safe.
God is our refuge, our place of safety in times of trouble. Thus, the psalmist puts his trust in God in times of adversity. He trusts that the Lord will deliver him.
But trust is a choice. In other words, when we trust God, we must choose to accept Him as Lord over our lives in every situation.
If we can trust God during difficult times, we can trust Him under any circumstance.
In Psalm 91, the psalmist tells us: 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” (Psalm 91:2).
His decision to trust God stems from his past experiences with Him.
His experience of seeing God’s deliverance helps to develop his faith and trust in God.
Notice that the poet or psalmist, remembering the supreme greatness of God, calls God “the Most High God” and “Almighty” in Psalm 91:1.
In this, the psalmist acknowledges that no one is as strong or powerful as his God.
In Psalm 91, the psalmist addresses the peace and safety that we can find in God when we trust Him. He uses such words as the “secret place” “shelter” or “hiding place” and “shadow.”
For instance, in Psalm 91:1 – He is our “refuge,” “fortress”
in Psalm 91:2 – He is our “wings,” “shield,” “buckler”
in Psalm 91:4, – He is our “dwelling place”
in Psalm 91:9. – He is our “safe and strong place.”
The psalmist makes the point in Psalms 91:4 that when we are in trouble, we can run to God, our safe place. He “will cover us like a mother bird spreading its wings over its babies” (Psalm 91:4).
The Lord is also the same as “a strong wall.”
In the time of the writer, the term mother birds, and strong walls were images that indicated safety or a safe place.
We only need to think of the unbearable heat of the sun in some parts of our world to appreciate shade.
Or think in times of war to value the security provided by a shield or fortress.
The phrase related to being “under the shadow of Your wings” in Psalm 17:8 and Matthew 23:37, implying the protection of a mother bird, is a word picture depicting comfort, safety, and assurance.
For instance, the Bible in Exodus 19:4 compares God to an eagle who protects its young and in Matthew 23:37 to a hen who hides her chicks under her wings.
How, though, do we deal with the times when calamity strikes and we can’t seem to see the Lord’s protection? Does this mean that the Lord is not with us?
Pause and Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 and Psalms 114, look to see who was with the people of Israel during calamities and deliverance. Then View the next segment of this video: Day 5: Defender and Deliverer
Psalms
(Lesson 4)
The Lord Hears and Delivers
Day 5: Defender and Deliverer
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 talks about God’s power given to us through Jesus. He refers back to the Exodus story when Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian Slavery.
Here, Paul, as with both Old Testament and New Testament writers, used the story of God delivering Israel from Egyptian Slavery as an example of God’s mighty power to save.
The poet in Psalms 114, rehearsing the account of when Israel went out of Egypt, seeks to do the same:
Psalms 114 says.
1 When Israel went out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became His sanctuary, And Israel His dominion.
3 The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O sea, that you fled? O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams? O little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of waters.
Psalm 114 is a beautiful poem about how God delivered His people from Egyptian Slavery.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, Paul sees the entire story in the Book of Exodus as a metaphor, word picture, or symbol of how Jesus Christ saves us from sin.
Psalm 114 also shows us something else. It shows God not only as our deliverer but as the Creator. It illustrates that as the creator of everything, He has control of everything, including nature.
God’s control over nature was how He saved His people from Egypt. The sea, the Jordan River, the mountains, and the hills are word pictures poetically representing nature and human powers that attempt to interfere with Israel’s journey to the Promised Land.
For example, Deuteronomy 1:44 tells us of human power, the Amorites who came against Israel as they journeyed to the Promised Land.
Joshua 3:14-17 tells us of the forces of nature, in the overflowing of the Jordon River, that had it not been for the power of God, the water of the Jordon would have swallowed them up and kept them from the promised land.
But God is in control of nature and all human powers. (Split)
The same is true today. We, as God’s children in all times and in all places, are on our way to the Promised Land, the heavenly Jerusalem. This journey is not without obstacles and danger. The psalmist offers encouraging works in Psalms 121:1 when he says:
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? (Psalm 121:1).
The message of Psalm 114, which demonstrates the power of God to deliver us, is seen in the story of Jesus when He calms a storm commanding the wind and sea to be still in Matthew 8:23-27.
7 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:23-27).
And in John 16:33 when, He told the church to be brave because He won the fight against sin. It says:
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Knowing that Jesus has overcome the world, should, as declared in Psalms 114:7, cause the whole earth to
7 “Tremble”… “at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob” (Psalm 114:7).
The word “tremble” is not intended to cause us to tremble in fear. The word “tremble” is to be understood as acknowledging and worshipping God rather than being terrified of Him (See: Psalms 96:9 and Psalms 99:1 for some more examples that help explain this.
Psalms 96:9
9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. (Psalms 96:9)
Psalms 99:1
1 The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved! (Psalms 99:1)
The point is with God on our side; there is no need for us to give way to the dangers we face. How do we keep God on our side? What puts us in the position of having God as our deliver? Pause and read the following: Psalm 3:4; Psalm 14:7; Psalm 20:1-3; Psalm 27:5; Psalm 36:8; Psalm 61:4; and Psalm 68:5, 35 to find out where our help comes from:
Then continue to the next segment of this video; Day 6: Help from the Sanctuary
Psalms
(Lesson 4)
The Lord Hears and Delivers
Day 6: Help from the Sanctuary
If you paused and read Psalm 3:4, Psalm 14:7, Psalm 20:1-3, Psalm 27:5, Psalm 36:8, Psalm 61:4, and Psalm 68:5, 35, you most likely discovered that your security and help come from the Sanctuary, God’s Holy Temple.
God’s Temple is a place of safety it is a place of refuge and salvation. God’s temple gives us shelter when we are in trouble. From His temple, God helps the orphans and widows. From His temple, He also gives us strength.
We read in Psalm 50:2, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth” (Psalm 50:2). What is Zion? Zion is a metaphor or word picture for God’s heavenly sanctuary, His temple, God’s dwelling place. God blesses His people from Zion, His dwelling place.
Psalms 84:4, Psalms 128:5, and Psalms 134:3 speak of the blessing that comes from dwelling in God’s house, His sanctuary.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah (Psalms 84:4)
Psalms 128:5
5 The Lord bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life. (Psalms 128:5)
Psalms 134:3
3 The Lord who made heaven and earth Bless you from Zion! (Psalms 134:3)
God’s temple, his dwelling place, surpasses any security in this world. For God himself is there.
It is the same as the high hill called Mont Zion, spoken of in Psalm 68:15, 16, and Isaiah 2:2. Mont Zion is better than any other mountain because God Himself is there. Mount Zion is a word picture for God’s sanctuary.
Hebrews 4:15-16 helps us to understand why the sanctuary in heaven is our safe place.
Jesus, our High Priest, is there. Because of what He has done for us on the cross, we can go boldly, by faith in prayer before our Father in His Heavenly Sanctuary.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15, 16).
The Book of Psalms helps us understand that we are sinners. We are not worthy of God’s favor or blessings. Yet, Psalm 143:2, 9-12 tells us God saves us from sin because of His loving mercy (Psalm 143:2, 9-12).
Psalms 143:2
2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no one living is righteous. (Psalms 143:2)
Psalms 143:9-12
9 Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; In You I take shelter.
10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
11 Revive me, O Lord, for Your name’s sake! For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies, And destroy all those who afflict my soul; For I am Your servant. (Psalms 143:9-12)
In other words, we can’t earn God’s forgiveness or mercy with our good behavior. There is nothing we can do to give us the right to go before God, except we go through the merits of Jesus.
Notice what the Book Sons and Daughters of God says about our deliverance from trouble by going to God in his Sanctuary through prayer:
God knows the needs of His children, and He loves to listen to their prayers. Let the children shut out the world and everything that would attract the thoughts from God, and let them feel that they are alone with God, that His eye looks into the inmost heart, and reads the desire of the soul, and that they may talk with God. In humble faith you may claim His promises, and feel that although you have nothing in yourself whereby you may claim the favor of God, because of the merits and righteousness of Christ, you may come boldly to the throne of grace, and find help in time of need. 12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies, And destroy all those who afflict my soul; For I am Your servant. (Psalms 143:9-12).
Thus, there is nothing that can make the soul so strong to resist the temptations of Satan in the great conflict of life, as to seek God in humility, laying before Him your soul in all its helplessness, expecting that He will be your helper and your defender.
With the trusting faith of a little child, we are to come to our heavenly Father, telling Him of all our needs. He is always ready to pardon and help…—Sons and Daughters of God, p. 121.
Thus, The Psalms are designed to strengthen our faith in God, who is the never-failing Refuge for those who trust and put their lives into His mighty hands. He cares about us, and when you put your trust in him and call on him in times of trouble, he will hear your call from His Heavenly Sanctuary and deliver you.
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Hebron Seventh-day Adventist Church
7902 Wheatly Street
Houston, TX 77088
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