Personal Deliverance

God, liberate us from the misery of self-serving fear that wants to run the other way from conflict, pain, other's suffering, personal suffering, and messy relationships that bring in all of the above. Several times in the past months, I have found myself running away from confusing or painful situations citing the ultimate cop out of "Lord, I am but a youth." God brought me back to a journal entry I had written back in June. It was words on a page then, and now it's fast becoming a living, breathing reality as God's Words bring me and others to gaze upon the beauty of His Son.
When I read the words of Jeremiah, I so often envision a gray bearded old man. After all, those kind of words are one's you imagine coming from the mouth of a wise elder. I was reading Jeremiah 1:8 in it's context, and was reminded that God had called Jeremiah while still a young man.

"Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.'

Then I [Jeremiah] said, 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not

know how to speak for I am only a youth;'

But the Lord said to me,

'Do not say, 'I am only a youth;'

for to all whom I send you, you shall go,

and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,'

declares the LORD."

Jeremiah 1:4-8

The Father does not promise that we will be kept from all danger, conflict, harm etc. In fact, His promises are often given in the context that we will certainly face trials of both a personal and corporate nature. Jeremiah's job from God was to warn His people to repent in the face of God's wrath and judgement for their rebellion against Him. Jeremiah had to surrender self-preservation and receive a humble selflessness that founded itself on God alone and transcended his personal fears. God asks us to be more concerned with others fate than our own, and in that, he will deliver us and them from danger brought upon us by evil. God will not guard our self-preservation. He will guard only our true lives which are hidden in His Son. These are lives that He has transformed into selfless devotion to Him and His loved ones. It seems the more risks we humbly take in obeying God, the more protection He provides. He will guard His holiness and righteousness being worked out in us. He will not guard the sin that prevents those things, and brings death into our innermost being. His holiness and righteousness come with a good, healthy tension in our lives. That tension and our response to it often reveals sin that God wants to purge from our lives. That purging is a fundamental part of His protection and deliverance. God has promised that He is and will guard our lives. And it is life as He created it, not as we think of it in the throes of our fleshly desires. We add on unnecessary and harmful things to the concept of life. He doesn't guard those things. He purges them, so we may Have life and have it in abundance in Him.