Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Rescued

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.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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