Rescued?

Rescued. This is a word that has repeatedly come to mind these past weeks as I have had the privilege to hear so many stories. These stories have made a lasting impression upon my heart and without a doubt; I have been impacted for life! Stories of renewed faith, of forgiveness, of lives redirected… Praise the Lord! Absolutely! I have also heard stories that have brought me to tears long after the words were spoken. The discouragement, pain and heartache seem too much for any one person and you wonder along side her as she cries out, “where was God? Why didn’t He rescue me?” I think all of us at one time or another have asked this question.

I want to point you to the life of Paul. Oh, how I love that the journey of his life was left for us in the Bible. Paul was terribly beaten and left for dead many times for sharing the gospel of Christ and yet Paul still says that, “… the Lord rescued me from them all.” (2 Timothy 3:10-11) Don’t you wonder how he could say that the Lord rescued him after he was beaten and left for dead? Where was the rescue? What did he mean by that? He certainly wasn’t spared pain or beamed up to the heavens invisibly at just the time he was about to be flogged again. So…how does he say so confidently that the Lord rescued him?

The Greek definition for the word rescued left me with a lot to ponder and may be insightful for you as well. Rescued means, “to drag along the ground, to draw or to snatch from danger, rescue, deliver. This is more with the meaning of drawing to oneself than merely rescuing from someone or something.” Rescuing is more about drawing us closer to the Lord than being delivered from a particular situation. Think about that for a minuet. When have we felt closest to the Lord? In times of difficulty and struggle don’t we cry out to him to deliver us from that particular trial? And although there are times when we have been spared pain and heartache, there are also times when we have to go through it. And when we’re forced to go through it and we rely on the Lord, there is a peace and an assurance. Our deliverance comes when we are dragged, sometimes along the rocky ground and after we have been truly beaten down by the world, from the enemy of our souls to the heart of God. This brings my mind to that of what James tells us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2-3) We need to remember that we will experience hardships. The Lord says that it is inevitable because we are in a battle not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph. 6:12) Take heart Beloved, the Lord is with you. Perhaps He has rescued you…just not in the way you thought He would. He loves you as you are and wants so much for you to cry out to Him in the midst of your pain, to draw close to Him. When you do sincerely and whole-heartedly, I believe He will reveal Himself to you and wrap His loving arms around you. You will be rescued; you will be drawn to Him.