“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. Selah.” Psalm 49:15

Redeem

Walk His Way Revisited

The cans and water bottles were overflowing in the recycling bins in our garage. Usually we let our teenaged son bag them up and take them to the recyclers for gas money for his car, but he neglected to do so in a timely way, and we were tired of looking at them. Time to redeem the mess!

Redemption. When we redeem cans or bottles at the recycling center, we are returning them for promised payment—trading something worthless for something of value. This is also true when you use a cents-off coupon at the store—the piece of paper it is printed on is worthless, but it results in cash in the purse.

In the Old Testament, David made a covenant with Jonathan to treat him kindly all the days of his life, but Jonathan died young and David didn’t get the chance to honor his covenant. In 2 Samuel 9:11, David honors the covenant later by showing favor to Jonathan’s disabled son, Mephibosheth. He showed this young man great kindness by providing for him, and honored him by inviting him to eat at David’s own table.

Such kindness! In that culture and time, the disabled were often considered weak, useless, and even mentally incompetent. Imagine being disabled and seemingly of no value to man, and then suddenly being provided for by a very rich and benevolent king for the rest of your days, all based on a promise made long ago, before you were born.

This is a picture of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As He promised before we were born, He redeemed us in our worthless, broken state; made payment for that redemption by shedding His own blood; shows us kindness; and invites us to dine at His table forever as His own child, His precious possession.

Something may have no intrinsic worth, but when someone decides to pay a price for it, it suddenly has value. We are of great worth to our Heavenly Father—for He has decided it, and declared it, and paid for it!

Tomorrow we will look at some other things that can be redeemed.

Lord, how can I thank You enough for paying the price that redeemed me? You loved me before I was born, and knew my need of a Savior to redeem me, and made provision in Jesus Christ. I praise You with my whole heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.