Friday, February 28, 2020 -
“He who walks blamelessly will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:18).
This promise is repeated throughout Scripture. God told this to the Israelites as they fled from Pharaoh. Yet God’s promises are covenantal promises, which means the outcome is also dependent on us and our actions and behavior, as we see in this verse. God promises deliverance, but only if we walk blamelessly.
Many prophesied over me before and after my conviction that I would be delivered. This I have believed, although at times I have had some doubts. The starkness of the fact that this indeed is a two-way street especially became a vivid reality when I came to prison. Prison is by-and-large an evil place that houses evil people. Not all are evil, but most are. And I’m not referring merely to inmates.
I have seen relatively good men who claimed to be Christians come to prison, whether it be due to an injustice, as in my case, or because they fell into sin. Walking into such an evil place, however, where Satan seems to have free reign, presents those who end up here with a clear choice. Either we are going to walk blamelessly, or fall into the devil’s trap and become just like the rest of the people here – foul-mouthed and merely looking out for themselves. I know this same reality confronts every person, particularly in secular environments such as schools or the workplace. But as one who walked through the front door of this prison having not been actually guilty of a crime, with so many promises of deliverance which seemingly were not immediately happening, I realized these very stark choices I was suddenly confronted with. My deliverance was based upon my commitment to remain pure, holy, and dependent upon God, patient, enduring, and fully trusting in faith.
Along the way, God has provided signs that deliverance was to come, such as the clear victory sign in bright light that appeared on the wall of the building on a cloudy day. I know that God’s victory is short at hand, and I praise Him! “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:31-32)?