The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: 2nd Timothy 4:16-18 // Psalm 34

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Psalm 34:19

Deliverance

We all have troubles and worries that plague us. In our wishful thinking, peace of mind often begins with the words, “if only …” Psalm 34 says, “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Law of the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Our response to that may be, “if only he would deliver me … and right now!”
Consider the troubles Jesus had when He lived among us. He was harassed and accused by His enemies, betrayed and denied by His closest friends, condemned in an unjust trial, and tortured to death on a cross. Yet through Jesus’ suffering, God was carrying out His plan to deliver us from the troubles of sin, guilt, and eternal death.
Peace of mind doesn’t begin with “if only”. Peace comes in knowing that through Jesus’ grief and suffering, God was steadily at work to deliver us. And as surely as God was at work in Jesus to save us, He is now at work in our lives as well. “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also … graciously give us all things?” [Romans 8:32]. The promise still stands: “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

October 24, 1999