Because He Delights in YouChikamu

The Hand That Delivers You

As I was walking beside River Almond in Edinburgh, the swans that were gracefully swimming made my heart throb with a peace I so needed. The past few weeks had been terrible. It was on September last year I travelled to Edinburgh to study Masters in International Law. At the start, I felt so confident of everything I needed to pursue, but was wearing thin by each passing day. The struggles of the pandemic were real. The whole World felt as if it was in casualty and for the past month, my heart was in my land – India. May 2021 saw the highest peak of COVID19 cases and as I walked beside the river, my whole being ached for the loved ones who left for Home above, friends and family who were being affected each day and who were working in the frontline risking their lives. 

Where is peace? Where is consolation? All those verses that once illuminated were now eclipsed in doubts - maybe out of an irrational fear. Maybe, I felt so unworthy. Maybe, I felt some promises didn’t apply for me. Maybe, I felt too broken to believe in His mercy. Yet, there was a Hand reaching out to deliver me, Eyes that saw me for who I was, Heart that took pride in me and Love that promised yet again – “Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the World” (Matthew 28: 20). I only needed to trust, to pray, to surrender, even when I found it hard to understand what was happening around me. 

In the deepest sorrows, in the wildest ache, in the scariest tempest, in the traps of evil – there is a Hand reaching out and a Heart longing for you – Because He delights in you!

Why should He delight in us? It’s not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done for us. Even before creation, He saw us and when He looks at us now, it’s not just this moment that He sees – He sees an eternity, a spacious liberty to which He calls us forward to. And each step counts. Our faith meets His grace at every second we believe in the redemption of His love that transforms us to His very likeness. His delight in us is costly, it is a privilege and it is power. 

Psalm 18 has been precious to me, because it pens the rhythm of a Believer’s heart that resonates in innocent enthusiasm with the Father’s faithful love that never lets go, the Saviour’s Hand that firmly holds the future, and the Spirit’s motion of mercy passionately moving us in Heaven’s delight. David through this Psalm speaks of the love he has for God despite everything that was happening around him, describing it as – unfailing kindness (Psalm 18: 50). There is deliverance, liberty, strength and hope in trusting the LORD.