Peter tells us, “…if God did not spare…the ancient world, but PRESERVED NOAH…WITH SEVEN OTHERS, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if HE RESCUED RIGHTEOUS LOT…then THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO RESCUE [deliver] THE GODLY FROM TEMPTATION” (2 Peter 2:4-9)
Our Abba Father is sending a clear message of comfort to us, as if to say: “I have just given you two of the greatest examples of my compassion. If, in the midst of a world-engulfing flood, I can deliver one righteous man and his family out of the havoc…THEN CAN I NOT DELIVER YOU ALSO? Can I not provide a miraculous way of escape?
“If I can send down fire-and-brimstone judgment that consumes entire cities at a time, yet I manage to send angels into the chaos to deliver Lot and his daughters…THEN CAN I NOT ALSO MANAGE TO SEND ANGELS TO DELIVER YOU OUT OF YOUR TRIALS?”
The lesson here for the righteous is this: GOD WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to deliver his people out of fiery trials and temptations. Think about it: It took the opening of the Red Sea to deliver Israel out of the clutches of its enemy. It took water out of a rock to save those same Israelites from their wilderness trial. It took miracle bread, angels’ food literally sent from heaven, to spare them from hunger. And it took an ark to save Noah from the flood, and “angel escorts” to deliver Lot from fiery destruction. THE CLEAR POINT IS THAT GOD KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER US, and he will go to any extreme to accomplish it, no matter what their circumstance.
Peter’s phrase “God knows how to rescue” means simply, “HE HAS ALREADY MADE PLANS.” The wonderful truth is that God already has plans for our deliverance even before we cry out to him. And he doesn’t sit on those plans; HE ONLY AWAITS OUR CRY FOR HELP. We may be entangled in the struggle of a lifetime, wondering how God will deliver us, yet he is always ready to put his plan into action.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11). The last phrase literally means “TO GIVE YOU WHAT YOU LONG FOR.”
GOD WANTS US TO KEEP PRAYING AND BELIEVING SO WE’LL BE READY FOR HIS DELIVERANCE.