He delivered me because He delighted in me.
- Psalm 18:19
At that point of desperation when we give up all hope that there is anything other than the mighty power that created that universe that could possibly save us, deliver us, set us fee, perhaps we felt, or feel, that God would rescue and restore us out of pity. Maybe it's so that He will have another servant to work for Him? Maybe it's simply that He is so tired of our pleading for help He finally does it so that we'll shut up already, like the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent woman found in Luke 8:1-8? Maybe it's to protect all those innocent bystanders? After all, there are far fewer people being damaged and far less destruction in my life now that I am not longer drinking and drugging.
Later, as we grow more healthy and free and in our desire to be of maximum service to God and others, we may begin to believe that Daddy helped us so that we could help others. Perhaps He had a need for a helper and we were the only possible fit? If we didn't step up to serve and help there might be someone Daddy wanted to help and set free who would never have responded to anyone else other than us? Maybe He helped us because He knew we would be so grateful and good if He did?
Nope. Not hardly. Look, we do have a calling. There are also people who God wants to use us to help and reach and care for. But we're talking about the One who spoke the world into existence and made a way for us to come to Him when that was absolutely and utterly impossible for us to qualify to do. He uses us and makes us a part of His plan, but He doesn't need us. And God didn't deliver us to make us stop annoying Him. We weren't so good or had so much potential that it made it worth His time and effort, nor were we so poor and pitiful that He couldn't stand it anymore.
He made a way for us, He came to set us, the captives, free and give us life, because of His great love for us. Daddy delights in us! He takes great pleasure in us being in His life! He is the proud papa with a zillion photos on His phone that give Him pleasure. Those photos are of us, you and me. This one is mine! That one is too! I saw him, her and them and wanted them so much I went to the most amazing lengths and paid the ultimate price to make sure I could adopt them. They are my pride and joy!
Oh but not me. I couldn't be anyone's pride and joy. I'm a mess. You don't know what I've done, what's been done to me, where I've been or what I've been through. You can't believe the things I did to support my habit. The selfish way I lived my life hurt everyone I ever claimed to care about. Surely, you don't mean that God delights in me!
Yes, I mean you and me and all the rest of us losers that never had a chance on our own. He knows what we'll be when He is done. Sure you and I may feel dried up, broken and worthless. It may appear to be true to everyone around us at times. But that is not the truth when our lives are in His hands and we belong to Him.
What we can't see and can't make happen is the transformation of our lives, like the transformation of the seeds above to the beautiful blue flag iris. In my hands, those seeds would just be ugly buried things most likely. I don't have a green thumb. But in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing and understands what they are, finding a wild iris seed pod isn't a discovery of an ugly, worthless, lifeless husk. It is a treasure that with care and tending will grow into something beautiful to be delighted in and that will bloom gloriously. Daddy has the ultimate green thumb, and He's not worried about our dirt or how dried and lifeless we may appear to be. Our lives, in His hands and in His care, are beautiful treasures that He sees and takes great delight in.
We don't have to clean ourselves up or make ourselves more presentable. In fact, we have no more hope of doing that successfully than seeds have of making themselves grow. The potential is there because the Creator put it there. But potential is not enough. We need His light, the Living Water and the fertile soil of a willing heart. We need His touch. His power. His grace. But when we take the tiny seed of faith He gives us and turn our hearts toward Him like a bloom turning to the sun and place ourselves in His hands and care, there is no stopping the transformation from lifeless to abundant life, from a husk to a beautiful reflection of Him.
You are not worthless. You have great value to the One who delights in you and will bring about the transformation from glory to glory. But also just as no one plants a seed today and has a full-blooming flower without first seeing a tiny fragile shaft of green, and the growth of stem and leaves and bud all come over time before the bloom, we do not become so obviously glorious overnight. It takes time. Be patient and remember that it is progress not perfection, and do not stress over the ugliness of the past. It's only the seed pod left to rot in the dirt where we bloom in His beautiful love for us.
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