Deliverance and Fortunes Restored: Psalm 14:7

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Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
-Psalm 14:7

We can anticipate deliverance.  Deliverance is the ministry of Christ and his church.  There are times when the church needs revival and God raises up deliverance through her.

There are times when the church needs to get saved.  This might come as a surprise and be offensive to some.  But to others, this is cause for jubilation.

Some people need deliverance and they know it, while others don't know it.  An essential ministry of Jesus is setting the captives free (Luke 4:18).

Psalm 14 is a meditation about people who deny the existence of God and live in corruption.
The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.”
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
The end of these thoughts is the cry, the prayer, that deliverance would come.
Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come from Zion!
Deliverance comes through her (Zion, the people of God).  God does things through people.

Zion is the place of God's presence with his people. That is where deliverance comes from. The text is saying, "Let Israel's deliverance come from God's city".

Israel is the people of God, and the authentic people of God have a dynamic relationship with the living God, who delivers them. This is different than atheism or "moralistic therapeutic deism", which denies the active presence of God.

Psalm 14 is actually a prayer to go beyond the notion that God is distant.

Psalm 14 is about our God who is a person who brings deliverance through his personal presence within and among his people.  God is glorious and his presence brings about surrendered lives, whole hardheartedly devoted to worship and service.  The presence points to a person, whom we are connected to intimately, as children to their father.  We only love the presence because we love the person of whom the presence is of.


The arc of Psalm 14 is atheism: "The fool says in his heart, there is no God", to, active believers: "Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!  When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad."

Most of us travel this story-line from foolishness to wisdom.  If we are no longer a fool for ourselves, we become a fool for Christ.  We are no longer fooled, but we look foolish to people who are still fools in their atheism.

The foolishness of not believing makes people corrupt.  We are designed by God to worship and have fellowship with God.  When we do not do this, the void is filled with worshiping ourselves and many different idols.

Idolatry creates bondage and people bound need deliverance.  Deliverance comes from God and God raised up people who exercise or wield God's power and authority to deliver people.

A simple way to illustrate this is that when an evangelist preaches the gospel and people get saved, this man our woman did not deliver or save the people, but God did.  We are so grateful and appreciative that we say, "You saved me", or such and such person saved me.  Someone coming out of something might say that a person or people or a group saved them, and there is some truth to it; because God uses people to save people.

The ultimate sending of the savior out of Zion was Jesus.  Psalm 14 is about Messianic hope and expectation.

The last part of this promise in verse seven is that God would restore Zion's fortunes by bringing deliverance to her, through her.  Zion is a people who had lost their fortunes.  It is like losing your inheritance or losing the blessing that was lined up for you to receive.

Something happened and the fortune was lost.  It might have been squandered or stolen.  What it says here is that when deliverance comes, fortunes are restored.  This is the principle of what is supposed to happen.

When someone gets saved and goes from being an atheist to being a believer, this is easy to see.  That person comes into the blessings of a life with God and all the gifts that God brings.

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