Rescue Operation

“Sometimes the best rescues don’t take us out of the struggle, but teach us how to walk through it.”

Loren Thornburg

In the midst of hard times it’s only normal to want out of it.  It’s uncomfortable, it’s painful, and it’s hard.  Those are not desirable things.  When I find myself there I want out too; I want to be rescued.  I want the stories we see in movies or the fairy tales that were read to me as a kid, where someone comes to save the day.  Yet, often times the best rescue operations don’t take us out of the danger, but show us how to walk through it.  I wonder how many things I have been rescued from because of all of the hard things that I wasn’t rescued from in the way that I wanted.  The times that I had to walk through the hard stuff grew in me abilities and character traits that have helped me avoid future dangers.  The more I see this the more I have come to appreciate the times my rescue didn’t look the way that I wanted.  I find although I still want to be swept out of it, I also want to be left in.  For that is the rescue that will keep on rescuing after this trial has passed.  

“...We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us.  As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened.  Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally--not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead!  And he did it, rescued us from certain doom.  And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.  You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation…”

2 Corinthians 1: 8-11 Message

God is the ultimate Rescuer.  He loves to rescue us “as many times as we need rescuing,” but He doesn’t always rescue us the way we would want Him to.  I love what Paul discovers in what seemed a hopeless situation.  He is glad for the intensity of the struggle because it forced Him to look to God to rescue, rather than to his own strength or someone else.  Paul comes to recognize the beauty of God’s rescue operation.  God loves to rescue.  He loves to rescue you...over and over and over again.  It just might not look how you thought it would.  He just might take you to the end of yourself so that you will trust in Him totally.