Dear friends:

Yesterday the Lord impressed upon my heart a message for anyone who may be afflicted.  I believe this message is for several readers who may be suffering from some kind of physical, emotional, or spiritual affliction.  It is from Psalm 34:19. 

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all"

In that verse, the word "afflictions" intrigued me, so I went to my Strong's Enhanced Lexicon, a part of my Logos Library System software, to see what the various meanings of the word might be.  It is the Hebrew word "ra"

It is mostly translated as evil, wickedness, bad, and several similar words, and also "ill."  In each of the about 20 adjectival uses, the word evil or bad appears.

Surprisingly, one of the meanings shown is "malignant."  Are you suffering from a malignancy today?  If so, this is your answer, special delivery via e-mail from the Holy Ghost.

But let's examine who qualifies for that promise.  God says He does it for the "righteous." 

Well, we know that there is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10).  There is no person except Jesus who could claim to be righteous before God.  The only way a person can be righteous is to be cleansed by the blood of Christ and as Paul says, be "found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith," as Paul wrote (Philippians 3:9).

Do you trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation and right standing before God?  If so, you qualify for the promise of Psalm 34:19.  You qualify for his promised deliverance from any affliction you may be experiencing.  It would also be a good idea to confess and turn from any known sin in your life, especially besetting or controlling sins.  (This step does not make you righteous in the above sense, but it will help you be able to receive God's promises and remove any barrier separating you from Him.)

Remember, God said "out of them all," not out of some of them, or a few of them, but "them all."

Obviously, our loving and gracious God is not the author of any of the evil, bad, wicked things in our lives.  Instead, He "delivers us out of them all."

Of course, God may allow us to experience some bad things but that does not make Him the author.  Some bad things may be caused by our own actions or some by the evil actions of others.  Whichever, He promised deliverance "out of them all!"

Some point to Psalm 119:67, which says, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word" (Psalm 119:67).  But that word for afflicted is a different Hebrew word: anah.  It is not the same as ra.  The word anah refers more to a humbling, or oppression, or being bowed down.

The above describes a wonderful promise for all of God's people.  But how do we appropriate it? 

We appropriate and receive it the same way as salvation or any of God's promises: by faith.  We choose to believe God's Word, and continually act like we believe it, and speak like we believe it.  The manifestation will surely come. 

The assurance is as good as God's own integrity and as reliable as His holy Word.

Pray the prayer of faith today, tenaciously cling to God's promise, and do not back down as doubts may come from the devil or other people, even if well-meaning.

God bless you,

Jim