Friday, March 13, 2015

GOD IS OUR RESCUER



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. This is what the Lord says—He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.”

Isaiah 43:14a, 15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As I prayed over this devotion, the Lord brought to mind six major events I have gone through in life.

The first one was when my first daughter was born. She seemed perfect to my wife and me but just eleven days after she was born we were told she needed to be taken to a major children’s hospital in the city. Something was wrong. We would come to learn she was not born with a thyroid, a rare condition but treatable. Since that time, the Lord rescued my daughter from a condition that could have debilitated her and has brought her well into adulthood where through continued medication, she can compensate for being without a thyroid.

After this, I ran into major financial issues when I was in my twenties. At the time, I wasn’t sure how I would ever be able to dig out of the debt I was in but the Lord showed me a plan and set things in motion to rescue me from hole I had dug for myself, pulling me out of it and teaching me valuable lessons in proper stewardship of what He provides.

Then there was the affair I had to endure as my wife was unfaithful with my next door neighbor after we had been married nearly ten years. It was the darkest time of my life as my family was ripped apart at the seams and I was left single again, trying to pick up the pieces of my life. Once again, the Lord rescued me from that place of darkness and brought me to a new mate who truly showed me what love was all about, for true love in marriage only comes when the Lord is at the center of it.

Later, I had at least two instances where I wasn’t sure where my career was going and I needed rescued from the uncertainty of pending duty assignments. Placing every instance in the hands of the Lord led to Him rescuing me from the uncertainties and showing me that the way was certain all along because it was His way and all I needed to do was to patiently wait for Him to move.

Then, my wife became severely ill and in intensive care. It was very touch and go for a few days as there was a high platelet count and blood clotting involved but the Lord rescued her from the valley of the shadow of death and brought her back to full health although her bone marrow disease was incurable. More than 12 years later, she continues to faithfully serve Him in remission and good health maintained by medication.

Finally, and most recently, I had troubles in my workplace. It was a difficult circumstance with lots of friction involved, one that sapped my desire to even go to work every day. I prayed for the Lord to show me the way He wanted me to go, helping shield me from what I was up against along the way and in return, He rescued me from the situation and set me on a new path, the path I am on as I write today.

Yes, my life has been marked by times that God, my Rescuer and yours, came to deliver me from difficulty and lead me to better times, showing me all along the way that I simply can’t live this life without Him.

God has always been in the rescuing business and as we look at these verses from Isaiah 43, we find Him reminding the Israelites of just that:

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. This is what the Lord says—He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.”  Isaiah 43:14a, 15

You’ll recall the Israelites plight as they attempted to flee from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. On foot and on the run, they were quickly pursued by Pharaoh and his men who came on horseback with chariots, being chased toward a sea that surely Pharaoh felt would trap the Israelites and work to his advantage.

There was just one thing that the Pharaoh forgot. He failed to remember that the Israelites had God on their side and that God was bent on rescuing His people. The rest was history. God sent His power to part the seas and the Israelites were able to pass through on dry land but as soon as Pharaoh and his men entered the place where the sea once flowed, God released the waters on them and they were annihilated, never to rise again.

Why was God reminding His people of this critical place in their history and relationship with God?

Because God would soon rescue them again.

We know that the Israelites during the time of the prophet Isaiah were on a collision course with God’s judgment due to their disobedience and disrespect toward Him through their worshipping of idols and false gods. That judgment would be in the form of a seventy year exile at the hands of the Babylonians who God would send on Judah to destroy Jerusalem and take the Israelites people captive, ushering them off to a foreign land. After that captivity was over, God assured His people that He once again would rescue them and deliver them from the hands of the Babylonians, just as He had done from the Egyptians.

Friends, indeed our God, the Lord God Almighty and Maker of heaven and earth, is, among many things, our great Rescuer. Perhaps you are remembering times right this very moment where He rescued you as well. If so, I pray you will share those occurrences and testify by leaving a comment after this devotion.

In the end translation, we all have been rescued by God in one way or another, the greatest of which I have saved for last for it is absolutely the best.

For God did not wish for us to perish as a result of our sins and so He rescued us all from certain doom and destruction by sending His only Son Jesus to deliver us from death to life so we might live with Him and God forever when this temporary, worldly life is over. All we need to do is accept Jesus as our Savior, to proclaim that He is our only way to salvation and God the Father (John 14:6).

If you want to have a full appreciation for God as your great Rescuer, all you need to do is ask yourself these two questions:

How would I have made it this far in my life without Him?

and

How would I have any hope if God had not sent Jesus to save me?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

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