The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all; (Psalm 34:19 NIV)
God I pray for your Spirit's wisdom to understand this seeming paradox that we face trouble and yet you deliver us Lord. I take this not to refer to people who are righteous by their works but rather those who are righteous in Christ by faith.
Lord you say some of us will go to death and many have died for your name. So what then does it mean to be delivered from all our troubles? I can only think that the thing that really matters is our faith and our refining to be like Christ. On this line then God does let us experience troubles some small and great. The best example I can think of is to lose someone even a close family member. In the gospels this happens and here is what happens:
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher anymore?" Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "Don't be afraid; just believe."
He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
(Mark 5:35, 36, 39, 41, 42 NIV)
God I pray you guide me by your truth and not by my understanding. But what I understand is this man literally experienced this greatest of sorrow. And in fact it is exactly as we perceive our troubles. For Jesus could have gone faster and healed the girl or healed her from a distance. But instead Jesus stops on the way to not just heal but listen to the whole story of this woman:
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
(Mark 5:27-29, 32-34 NIV)
Jesus allowed Jairus this man to suffer and face the great trouble of is daughter dying when he didn't have to. Jesus healed this woman taking time to show how important she is to him.
Yet Jesus is not troubled to learn of Jairus daughters death. Jesus hassle plan and says do not be afraid only believe. Believe that there is life after death, heaven eternity with God. Believe that this is possible through faith and believing in Jesus. Yet not all with faith or Christian families are raised from the dead and live to a long age. So what do we do?
I believe God can and does still raise people from the dead, but he doesn't always choose to. I take this to generally relate also to our eternal life in heaven. Though our family may not rise from the dead in this life, by faith they can be saved and live again in eternity.
That leaves the question of Gods plan and if he really loves those who don't believe and die without faith especially if they are young. But I'll leave that for another time.
God I pray that I would not fear but only believe through Jesus. I pray I would trust you for myself and others that in all my troubles you deliver in ways that save me and bring about my eternal deliverance which is of far exceedingly greater worth!
Amen
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