Tuesday, October
24, 2017
O God, you are my
God; I earnestly search for you. My soul
thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where
there is no water. I have seen you in
your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life
itself; how I praise you! I will praise
you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You
satisfy me more than the richest feast. I
will praise you with songs of joy. I lie
awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in
the shadow of your wings. I cling to
you; your strong right hand holds me securely.
Psalm 63:1-8(NLT)
There
are a number of ways to be rescued in life.
· Financial
Rescue
You’ve
got a debt load that threatens you will lose everything; bankruptcy seems
certain, but someone offers to clear the obligation.
· Professional
Rescue
You’ve
done something stupid and everything you worked-for in life is at risk; disaster
is going to be your new name, but friends and colleagues circle their wagons
around you and give you new hope.
· Physical
Rescue
You’re
in danger and going down for the third time; Superman swoops in to the rescue!
· Spiritual
Rescue
Each
person, whether early or late in life, comes to the end of his or her own
resources; we tap out, run out of gas, go sour on life, or just plain come to
the end of whatever has been driving us to go it alone, and we realize we cannot…we just cannot continue
without knowing our purpose, and that there is hope.
And
then…God!
I
have been rescued in all of these ways at times in my life…too many times to recount
here. At each of those times the words
of the 16th century poet John Donne come to refresh my perspective
on the trouble I’ve been through and the rescue God has brought my way:
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is
the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy
friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am
involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls;
it tolls for thee.”[2]
Thomas
Merton used Donne’s words and wrote of the despair and brokenness which leads
to our spiritual rescue:
“Only the man who has had to face despair is
really convinced that he needs mercy. Those
who do not want mercy never seek it. It
is better to find God on the threshold of despair than to risk our lives in a
complacency that has never felt the need of forgiveness. A life that is without problems may literally
be more hopeless than one that always verges on despair.”[3]
For You
Today
Life
in despair today?
Problems
caving your world around you?
You
are not an island, alone. Embrace God’s
rescue; like the Psalmist you will know that his strong arms never fail, and
you will know what it is like for a strong
right hand to hold you securely. You
will know what it is to sing for joy
under his wings.
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