I grew up a NY Yankees fan, sitting on my grandfather’s lap or at his feet, watching the Bronx Bombers put it to so many foes over the decades. And I thoroughly loved witnessing, even in person, the Chicago Bulls emerge into decade dominance in the ‘90s.

Watching Mariano Rivera get pressure saves out of the bullpen time after time amazed me. And witnessing Michael Jordan get heroic, late-game buckets and stops repeatedly left me speechless. O how they could deliver and dominate so well in the clutch!

Like Rivera and Jordan, but on a universal, timeless scale, is our God. He knows how to deliver FROM evil, peril, danger, death, sickness, hunger, thirst, temptation, sin, guilt, shame, anxiety, worry, conflict, uncertainty. 

And He knows how to deliver TO safety, peace, rest, restoration, wholeness, confidence, Heaven. Around 1,000 times in Scripture the words “deliver, rescue, save or salvation” appear.

What we see here is a simple-strong deliverance pattern that God wants to establish in us.

• GOD HAS.
• THEREFORE, GOD WILL. (Though we don’t often know when or how, we do know it is inevitable.)
• So we SET OUR HOPE that He will continue to deliver.

Reflect: Where do you need some deliverance, some rescue today? Where are you setting your hope? Do any adjustments need to be made?

A prayer to consider: LORD, thank You for Your Word that is filled with a ridiculous weight of evidence that You know how to deliver, rescue, save. And You do!

By Your Spirit, help me push fear to the sideline and give faith and hope its due today. Remind me that Hope is a Person. It’s You! And help me to set my hope here.

And LORD, please be with my precious friends who are pushing through COVID-positive testing realities right now. Set their hope firmly in You and don’t let them give way to fear. Hold them together like only You can (Colossians 1:17).

Through Christ, our living Hope (1 Peter 1:3), I pray. Amen.