"He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me" (Psalms 18:16-19).
In this Psalm, David was looking back after a great deliverance. He was rejoicing because the Lord had rescued him from his enemies: "I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies" (Psalms 18:3).
Indeed, David had just been through a terrible time of testing. Saul had put a bounty on his head and had chased him relentlessly, so that he was forced to sleep in caves, dens and open fields. David said of that dark time, "The sorrows of hell surrounded me, and I lived in distress. Ungodly men made me afraid My enemies were too strong for me. They all hated me!"
But God came roaring out of the heavens to deliver David: "He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet." "The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire." "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me." (Psalms 18:9,13,16-17).
Demon powers had surrounded David. The enemy had come in like a flood. Yet David was able to say, "God came roaring forth to pull me out of those swirling waters. He rescued me from all my troubles!" "He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me." (Psalms 18:19).
The Holy Spirit Gave David a Revelation
That is the Key to All Deliverance
David could say, "The reason God delivered me from all my enemies - from all my sorrows and the powers of hell - is because I am precious to him. My God delights in me!"
Beloved, if you need deliverance - whether from lust, temptation or trial; whether your problem is mental, spiritual, emotional or physical - this verse is the key to your victory. And the key is simply this: God delights in you! You are precious to Him!
In Song of Solomon, the Lord says of his bride: "How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!" (Song of Solomon 7:6). Three of the Hebrew words in this verse are synonymous: fair (meaning, "precious"), pleasant (indicating "pleasure"), and delights.
These words describe Jesus' thoughts toward his bride as he beholds her. He looks at her and says, "How beautiful, sweet and delightful you are. You are precious to me, O love!" And in turn, the bride boasts, "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me" (Song of Solomon 7:10). The meaning here is, "He runs after me with delight. He chases me because I am so precious to him!"
These same thoughts are found throughout the Psalm: ) "The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." (Psalms 147:11). "For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psalms 149:4).
Now, I can try to convince you of God's delight in you by telling you, "You are precious to the Lord!" Yet you may only think, "Well, that's a lovely thought. How sweet."
But this truth is much more than a lovely thought. It is the very key to your deliverance from every battle that rages in your soul. It is the secret to entering into the rest God has promised you. And until you lay hold of it - until it becomes a foundation of truth in your heart - you will not be able to withstand what is ahead in this wicked time!
Isaiah had a revelation of God's great delight in us. He prophesied to Israel this word from the Lord:
"But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:1-2).
Isaiah wasn't talking about a literal flood or fire. He was talking about what the people were going through spiritually and mentally. They were in captivity at the time - and their floods were trials, their fires were temptations, their rivers were testings. It was all the devil's attempt to destroy and overwhelm God's people.
Isaiah's words were a message of pure mercy to Israel They were in captivity because of their own stupidity and foolishness. They deserved nothing. But God sent them a weeping, brokenhearted prophet who said, "God wants me to tell you that you belong to him!"
Right now, you may be "passing through" your own swirling waters. You may feel overwhelmed by a temptation that threatens to ignite and consume you. And you fear you may be destroyed by it.
You've got to understand from these biblical examples: God does not always calm the waters. He doesn't always keep the floods from coming. He doesn't always put out the fires, Yet what He does promise is this: "I will walk with you through it all! This trial or circumstance is not going to destroy you. It will not burn or drown you. So, walk on. You will come out on the other side with me beside you!"
That was all the three Hebrew children needed to hear. When they were thrown into the fiery furnace, a fourth man was there with them - Jesus! They didn't get burned. In fact, their clothes and hair didn't even smell of smoke. Beloved, that is the very kind of deliverance God wants to bring to you!
What is God's motivation for wanting to deliver you? Is it because you have done something to appease him? Have you increased your prayer time? Do you spend more hours reading scripture? Have you promised never to fail him again? Isaiah had the true revelation: "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee... Fear not: for I am with thee... " (Isaiah 43:4-5).
God was saying to Israel, "You are about to go through fires and floods - but I'm going to walk with you through them all. And I'm going to deliver you in the end, simply because you are mine! I know you by name. And you are a delight to my heart!"
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9). "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6).
Even if You Lived to Be Five Hundred Years Old,
You Wouldn't Live Long Enough to Please God
by Your Own Doings!
It doesn't matter what you do to try to clean yourself up. If you don't trust Jesus to save you through his grace, all your righteousness is as filthy rags in God's sight. Your flesh isn't accepted before God; it can't even be reformed. All flesh was done away with at the cross. Now a new man has come forth - the Christ man. And true faith is having confidence in what He did for you!
You may say, "I can believe that God delights in holy pastors. They pray and spend so much time in the word. And I can believe that elders and intercessors are precious to him. They've endured sufferings, testings and trials, and they have come out victorious.
"But I find it hard to believe that a troubled, failing Christian like me could be precious to God. He has to be disgusted with me, because my life is so up-and-down. I've got problems I can't seem to get through. I feel like I'm in his doghouse. Oh, I believe he still loves me. But surely he is disappointed in me, because I've failed him so often!"
Please understand: Isaiah's wonderful prophecy of grace was spoken to a people who had been robbed, spoiled, snared in holes and cast into prison - all because of their own foolishness and unbelief! It was at such a point that God said to them, "Now - after all your failures - I come to you with this message of hope. And it is all because you are mine!"
I will never forget the pain I endured when one of my teenage children came to me and confessed, "Dad, I've never once felt as if I have pleased you. I've never felt worthy of your love, I feel like I've let you down my whole life. You must be really disappointed in me. I've failed you so many times!"
Those words hurt. I embraced that tearful child, hurting deeply inside myself. And I thought, "How wrong! I have shown this child my love. I have spoken it and demonstrated it time after time. All my other children have felt secure in my love. How could this child carry such a misconception for so long, and bear such unnecessary misery and guilt?"
I cried as I told this child, "But you have always been special to me. You have been the apple of my eye! When I'm on the road conducting crusades, I think of you and my whole being lights up. Sure, you've done foolish, wrong things at times, just like your brothers and sister. But you were forgiven! You were truly sorry, and I never once thought less of you. You are nothing but a joy to me. You've made me happy all your lifetime. You have been a delight to me!"
So It is with many Christians in their relationship with the Heavenly Father! The devil has convinced them they've only disappointed God and will never be able to please him. So they don't accept his love. Instead, they live as if his wrath is always breathing down on them. What a horrible way to go through life! And how pained God must be when he sees his children living that way.
Perhaps you were raised in an unloving, uncaring family. Maybe your mother or father or siblings made you feel as if you weren't worth anything. You never felt special or precious to anybody in particular. Nobody ever put his arms around you and said, "I love you! You're special to me. I'm so proud of you!" How many children have grown up wanting to be special to their father or mother? And how many adults today struggle with perfectionism because they never felt precious or delightful to a parent?
Over the years I have been moved to tears at the sad childhood memories of drug addicted men and women. Many have told me that their mother or father taunted them, yelling, "You're good for nothing. You can't do anything right. You'll never amount to anything the rest of your life!" They grew up feeling absolutely worthless, as if they meant nothing to anyone.
Today, our streets are filled with run-away children who have been robbed of all sense of worthiness. They feel special to no one. So they give themselves to the first person on the street who makes them feel a little special. They offer their bodies to pimps, lust-driven men and women, other teenagers - anyone who makes them think they are worth something.
Oh, thank God for Jesus! To him, you have always been precious. It doesn't matter what kind of home life you had, or what your earthly parents were like. None of that can ever compare to the love of your heavenly father. From the day you were born, you have been special to him!
"... The Adulteress Will Hunt for the Precious Life" (Proverbs 6:26).
The adulteress spoken of in this verse is Satan. He hunts down those who are precious to God!
There are certain children who show a hunger for God at an early age. The Lord has put his hand on them, and they yearn for him from the time they're very young. I believe Satan is determined to hunt down every such child who is touched with childlike trust in the Lord. The devil understands the power that is behind such preciousness in God's eyes He saw what happened to little Samuel He watched as that young boy's heart reached out to God. And he saw Samuel grow up to be a mighty prophet who rocked his kingdom!
Now the devil tries to seduce everyone who hungers after the Lord, Why do you think you are being so tested? Why do you think you have suffered so many attacks? You may have had a lifetime of trials, but it hasn't been because you are evil. No - it is because Satan knows how precious you are in God's sight. It is the precious life he is after!
Several years ago, during an evangelistic crusade on the west coast, I met a young man who was a witch. In fact, he was the leader of a coven of witches. Even though this young man was deeply involved in the occult, he didn't believe Satan or his demons would ever possess him.
One night as he tried to go to sleep, he saw horrible, demonic faces swirling on the ceiling of his bedroom, leering down at him, They began to gather like a cloud, and soon they formed a funnel, The young man realized they were about to come into his heart!
He was petrified. Then he remembered something from his childhood. So he cried out, "In Jesus' name, go!" And all the demons vanished.
The next night, however, those forces rallied even greater legions. As the young man lay down to sleep, he heard a roaring sound. When he looked up, the whole room was filled with ugly, horrible creatures. They had formed a funnel again. This time the young man stood up on his bed and shouted, "I claim the blood of Jesus!" Again the demons fled in disarray.
The young man thought, "The next time they come, I won't be able to handle it." So he called a Christian he knew and asked him to accompany him to one of my crusade meetings.
During the service, the young coven leader was convicted by the Holy Ghost, and he gave his heart to the Lord. The next night, he brought a suitcase full of his demon paraphernalia to the meeting. He testified that his family had had a background in the occult. But, he said, "I remember something else. When I was about six or seven years old, I had a heart for Jesus. I don't know how or why. But I clearly recall going into the woods behind our house and preaching my heart out!"
I have seen this same heart for God in my own children and grandchildren. And I had that kind of heart when I was a child. So I knew exactly what this young man was talking about.
Suddenly, a light went on in me - and I knew why the devil had tried to possess this young man and destroy him. It was because of how precious he was to God. The adulteress had hunted him down!
The Bible Gives Us a Vivid Illustration of How Satan Tries to Deceive
and Destroy Us - All Because We Are Precious in God's Sight!
This illustration appears in Numbers 13-14. Israel had sent twelve spies to search out the promised land. When these spies returned after forty days, they planted three lies in the hearts of God's
- "There are too many people in the land. And they're too strong for us!"
- "The cities are walled too high. The strongholds are too impregnable!"
- "There are giants in the land, and we're no match for them. We are helpless, finished!"
These lies took the heart right out of Israel - and the people endured a night of despair: "And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night" (Numbers 14:1). Can you imagine this scene? Think of what it must have sounded like. More than 2 million people were weeping, wailing, moaning - focusing completely on their weaknesses and inabilities. Those wailing sounds of unbelief bombarded heaven.
Take a good, hard look at that scene, beloved. You may see yourself in the midst of it! Have you ever spent a night like that one - wailing and moaning because of demonic lies that were planted in your spirit? Have you ever cried out to God, "I've had it - I can't take any more! This trial is too much. There are strongholds in me that will never come down. it's all over for me now - I'll never make it. I've lost the battle!"
The devil throws these same three lies at all of God's people: "Your temptations are too numerous. Your lusts are too overwhelming. You are too weak to resist the power coming against you!"
The word that God spoke to Israel is for us today also: "... ye shall be a special treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine..." (Exodus 19:5). "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar [precious, special] people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 14:2).
I'm sure Israel felt precious and special to the Lord when He first saved them. After He delivered them from bondage in Egypt, opened the Red Sea and rescued them from Pharaoh's army, they must have said, "Look at the great miracles God performed on our behalf. He really loves us!"
And most Christians today would say the same thing about their Savior and Lord: "Oh, yes - God saved me from sin. Look at everything he delivered me from. I must be special to him!"
My question is: What happened? In just a few years, many Christians become like Israel All the problems and trials of life come upon them, and they think, "We once were precious in God's eyes - enough to be saved, that is. But now, after serving Him these years, we're only grasshoppers. We're meat for our enemies!"
Such defeated believers no longer sense God's delight in them. In fact, many believe God has forsaken them! When Israel said, "We are grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants," they actually were saying, "God has treated us like helpless insects that are about to be stomped to death. Our enemy is going to smash us into the ground. We're no better off than grasshoppers!"
Joshua and Caleb Were of a Different Spirit!
Joshua and Caleb were among the twelve spies who were sent out. But they came back full of hope. They didn't shed tears, bemoaning their condition. Rather, they rejoiced after searching out the land. They were fill of faith and vision!
Do you know Christians who are like this? They are always rejoicing. You know they are enduring awful trials. Yet they seem to know how to get hold of God in the midst of their situation.
Yet, what about you? Are you always down, always complaining? Perhaps your personal or family problems have possessed you and eaten up your soul. Dear saint, it doesn't matter what you are going through; you are precious to God. And if you come to Him with a repentant heart and a hungry soul, He will give you His vision and hope!
Joshua and Caleb had a revelation of their preciousness in God's eyes. And they knew Israel was special to the Lord. That was the key to their hopeful, victorious spirit. Joshua said "If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us... (Numbers 14:8). In other words, "Because he delights in us, we are as good as in the land already!"
This is the same revelation David had: "He brought me out and delivered me - because He delighted in me!" Likewise, every victorious Christian today has this same revelation of the loving heavenly Father: "We can't fail! All our enemies are meat for us, because we are precious to the Lord, He delights in us!"
Let me reveal to you the great mercy of God in the preaching of Joshua and Caleb. Israel had spent the night in rebellion - wallowing in unbelief, weeping as though God had forsaken them, and finally appointing a captain to lead them back to Egypt. Yet the Lord sent Joshua and Caleb to them. And they told the people, "In spite of your night of confusion - in spite of all your misery and complaining - God delights in you. He will lead you forward. Fear not - for you are precious to him!"
Yet there is a warning here also. You see, Israel refused to believe God's message about how precious they were in his eyes. Instead, they preferred to focus on their condition - their problems, weaknesses and inabilities. And they gave in to their fears. Finally, God ran out of patience with them. He said to Israel: "And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them... " (Numbers 14:11-12).
The Lord forgave Israel for Moses' sake. But they were not permitted to enter into the land. Instead, they were assigned a wilderness existence - a life given over to constant fear and destructive doubts. They were forgiven, but miserable! They had lost the hope, rest and peace that come from accepting and believing how special God's children are to him.
Beloved, the only time God's patience runs out with us is when we refuse again and again to accept how much He loves us and that He wants to see us through our battles. Indeed, many Christians today have been turned back into a wilderness of their own making. They have no joy, no victory. To look at them, you'd think God had forsaken them years ago. No! It is that He has turned them over to their own complaining and murmuring!
Thank God, Joshua and Caleb entered into the promised land. And what joy they had! God blessed them incredibly. They stood as green trees in his house until their dying days. They were men of power and vision - because they knew they were precious to God!
You also are precious to the Lord, in spite of all your problems and failures. And no matter what your trials or struggles, you can be a green tree in God's house, just as Joshua and Caleb were. Simply stand on what his word promises: "He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me." (Psalms 18:19). That is the foundation of true faith. Amen!
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