Saturday, June 20, 2009


I was reading more of John Owen, about how God rescues His people, and he made a list of 6 ways God commonly comes to the aid of his people and as I read over it a few times, I was struck by the first method and how many times have I seen this come to pass. Times when I was at my wits end, circumstances seemed entirely impossible to over come, and low and behold, a change took place that defied all reason, and I was left praising God for another miracle of deliverance. All of the six methods of God below are the things that give me hope when I am down.

David’s plea in Ps. 25:20; “Guard my soul and deliver me;
Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in Thee.” captures the essence of Owens quote.


“And rest upon this, that God has innumerable ways that thou knowest not of to give thee deliverance; such as –

1st. He can, by some providence, alter that whole state of things from whence thy temptation doth arise, so taking fuel from the fire, causing it to go out of itself; as it was with David in the day of battle: or,

2dly. He can tread down Satan under thy feet, that he shall not dare to suggest any thing any more to thy disadvantage (the God of peace shall do it), that thou shalt hear of him no more; or,

3dly. He can send an affliction that shall mortify thy heart unto the matter of the temptation, whatever it be, that that which was before a sweet morsel under the tongue shall neither have taste or relish in it unto thee,-- thy desire to it shall be killed; as was the case with the same David: or

4thly. He can give thee such supply of grace as that thou mayst be freed, though not from the temptation itself, yet from the tendency and danger of it; as was the case with Paul; or,

5thly He can give thee such a comfortable persuasion of good success in the issue as that thou shalt have refreshment in thy trials, and be kept from the trouble of the temptation; as was the case with the same Paul; or,

6thly He can utterly remove it, and make thee a complete conqueror. And innumerable other ways he hath of keeping thee from entering into temptation, so as to be foiled by it.”

What a mighty God we serve!
Painting from the Internet

3 comments:

Mel said...

What a mighty God indeed! :) God has used each and every single one of these methods in my life, Fred, and I can also say that each method has been a favorite of mine in its own right during different seasons of my life. But this particular season, I think number four is my favorite, because it is the one that is least likely to lead to pride in my heart, and is most likely to keep my heart and mind firmly focused on Him.

Thanks for the great posts, Fred! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to be able to read them and comment. I feel like a starving person when I don't get to look at your blog for a few days.

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Fred:)

Very interesting and informative post.

Many times when we succeed, the success goes to our head, and we think the entire credit should go to us and it has nothing to do with God.

This post is an eye opener.

God be praised.

Best wishes:)
Joseph

FCB said...

Hi Mel,
Amen, what a might God!
I favor number four as well, also number one, this is the one that leaves me in awe. I see no possible option, no open door, and wa la, he "alters the whole state of things".

I relate to your starvation, with my computer down I feel cut off from the world! eeecccckk!
God bless,
Fred



Hi Joseph,
So true, if there is a way I can attribute credit to myself, I think of it. I'm sure the Lord just shakes His head and wonders when I will ever learn. Praise Him for His patience with us.
God bless,
Fred