The Lord Delivers

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all." Psalm 34:19

It was May of last year and I was out on a backpacking trip with a group of 6 ladies. We were filtering water in a creek bed while we had our quiet time. There was a waterfall directly behind us. The ladies had already seen a snake in this spot, so I kept a watchful eye.

I opened my bible to the Psalms and read the verse listed above. I'm typically not a person who cries often, but in that moment the emotion swept over me and I felt the freedom to let it out. I sat in the creek bed crying tears of sorrow mixed with hope. I felt that verse to my core.

We certainly were an afflicted group of women, each with our woes at the time. The trip had been unlike others in this way. We seemed to each have pretty heavy burdens we had been carrying. But this verse brought hope.

"Many are the afflictions." Yes, we had known affliction. "But the LORD" He has the last say and He would deliver us from them. We didn't know how or when. But we knew that HE was able and faithful. And that was enough.

Feel hope rise. Our God gives beauty for ashes.