Our Idea of Rescue

Have you ever felt that you were drowning in your troubles? Has it ever seemed that bad thing, after bad thing, after bad thing, keeps piling on you? Me too! There have been those occassions where I could see no way out, I had all but lost hope in my survival. Whether they were storms of financial, social, physical, or other, that threatened, I would turn to God in prayer.

Matthew 8:23-25 (NIV) "Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We're going to drown!'"

Yep, I was just like a disciple, adrift in the boat that was my life and encountering a furious squall that had me thinking I was going to capsize and drown. I was sunk for sure, so I too would cry out.

in Matthew 8:26 (NIV) Jesus replied, "'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?' Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm."

Yes, I've been there too. I've been in the boat with Jesus right there and still, I didn't trust him to rescue me. Even beyond that, I've cried out from the waters of trouble to be rescued from drowning and Jesus has lifted my head above the water so that I would not drown...but I was disappointed. The disciples in the story above likewise were saved from their perceived threat of drowning but they were still in the boat! They were still out on the Sea! For some, often times me included, rescue isn't simply keep me from drowning, it is keep me from drowning, AND place my feet on dry land AND comfort me with succor that includes shelter, food & drink, wealth and so on and on. My idea of rescue often times is slightly different than the one God wills for me. I often think that had I been one of the disciples in the boat at that moment, I might have clumsily asked Jesus why he rebuked the storm but failed to transport us immediately to dry land where were heading! Oh what a fool I am at times.

It's not hard to see why those contemporaries of Jesus who had cried out for rescue failed to grasp that Jesus the Messiah was infact that rescuer. Rescue to them meant overthrowing the Romans or restoring Israel to its greatness or whatever else it was THEIR HEART DESIRED. Jesus came and died upon the cross, rescuing us from our sin and yet, here I sit, some 2000 years later still complaining about how that rescue isn't quite what I had in mind.

I pray that God will give me the patience, strength, courage, and faith to accept God's will for my life with a grateful heart. Thanks for rescuing me...I desperately needed it