My Deliverer is Coming

There is no greater weight for us to carry than the weight of our own pain. There is also no greater strength than the strength exerted in the throat of a person holding back the floodgates of tears which are powered by the force of our pain. Where do I find the resolve to keep bouncing back from the repeated blows to my dreams? I have spent my life dreaming of a better time, a better place and a better me. Time after time circumstances outsmarted me and crushed my dreams against the shores of my journey. Yet I arise and start again as a runner that has no other purpose in life than to complete the race, win or lose.

It is a powerful force that propels us forward on the roadbed of our lives. A force that many possess yet may or may not choose to engage. It is also a force that some misuse. There is a force that drives many of us when everything and everyone would justify and provide us with the necessary excuse to give up.

We are not remembered for what we have accumulated or gotten out of life. We purchase our place in history with the value of what we have given. Usually, it has cost us everything.

Why is it that we relate so readily to pain? Why are we encouraged and inspired by the pain of others? Why is pain one of our greatest yet most despised teachers? Why is it that she can also be our most dreaded enemy? The last thing people in pain want is the insincere sympathy of those who have never known what it really means to hurt.

Most of us are all too familiar with trials and testing and the pain that often comes with them. Many of us have learned to cry out to God for mercy and help during these times of need. But how many of us have learned to recognize and understand the answer God sends in response to our cry?

Like so many of the highs and lows that make up my life, I have recently been found worthy to travel through another one of the lows. A couple of months ago my wife called me while I was out of town and shared a dream with me. She told me that she dreamed she was in our home when the phone rang. She walked over to the phone and picked it up to answer it. She said it was the devil on the other end and he said, “I’m just calling to put you on notice that I am out to get Randall Mooney.” Then he hung up. When she told me the dream I couldn’t resist laughing. She asked me if I was being cocky. I told her that I was laughing because I thought of the scriptures in Luke chapter 10 and that I was rejoicing because my name was in the Lamb’s book of life and not because I had power over the devil.

Luke 10:18-20; And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (KJV).

I also remembered reading a book by Leonard Ravenhill in the early seventies. In that book there was a chapter called “Known in Hell”. I distinctly remembered praying after I read that book that the enemy would know my name like he knew Paul and Jesus. Sounds like my prayers were answered.

Nevertheless, the next couple of months after her dream, proved to be extremely challenging and very painful. But God is faithful and continues to enable us day by day to finish our race.

Last Monday morning I left my home about 5:00 am, to drive to Corinth, Chattanooga and Charlotte to check on projects I had there. While driving I continued to pray as I had been doing for the past week. Lord, deliver me. Lord, help me. You know the prayer. Well, while I prayed my mind began to wander to the story in the Bible about Joseph. I thought about this young man full of dreams and drive and cursed with a big mouth. He obviously was a very open individual and did not refrain from sharing with his brothers the dreams that he had. Especially the ones about them bowing down to him. Eventually his brothers shared their immense enthusiasm for his dreams by throwing him in a pit and later selling him as a slave. They then concocted a story about his death and broke their father’s heart with the terrible news.

Years later, the brothers and all their households found themselves in the midst of a great famine in the land. After hearing there was food in Egypt, they got together everything they could gather and headed to Egypt to buy food. Well, you know how the story ended if you’ve ever read it but, here’s the point. While standing there in the presence of the number two leader in all of Egypt, these brothers not only did not recognize their own brother, they did not recognize their deliverer. They did not know that God took their wicked and evil deed against their own brother and used it for their own deliverance.

That got me to thinking. Like Joseph, Jesus remains unrecognized by so many that are desperately crying out in pain for deliverance. They don’t recognize their deliverer. How many times have we prayed and missed the very deliverance God sent us? We pray for a winning lottery ticket and God sends us a job. How often do we overlook God’s answers to our prayers because we’re so busy writing the script and running the scenarios in our mind, of how God is supposed to answer our prayers, according to us? We do need to pray in faith and believe God hears our prayers, but we also need to be able to recognize the answer He gives. Too often, His answers don’t match our expectation or our desires. However, He is God and they are His answers.

Last week a man called me and said he had a dream that the Lord was sending a delivery truck to the front door of my business and that the truck was filled with everything we needed. He also said to expect delivery in 7 to 8 days. All week at the company we have been praying and watching for the delivery van from God. We sure need it. It has been our prayer that we are able to recognize God’s delivery (deliverance) when it arrives.

Be encouraged! If you are waiting on God’s promise, be prepared for Him to come to you in ways that you may not expect or are looking for. But you can be sure, He will come. By the way, it does not matter what God allows the enemy to bring your way, you can be confident that the enemy cannot take your name out of God’s book.

Randall Mooney