Rescue

Right in the middle of your rescue...

That’s what I heard the Lord speaking to me this morning…that I am right in the middle of my rescue. I didn’t believe Him. Because I don’t feel safe and secure- I feel unsure and afraid and somewhat disoriented. Everywhere I look I see scary circumstances and things beyond my control – I want to curl up in a tight little ball and close my eyes until it’s over but He tells me to keep walking- keep taking the next step. And in the natural- I will tell you this looks nothing like a rescue. It looks like a death march. Off a cliff. Into crocodile infested waters. No chance of survival here- if the fall doesn’t kill you, the crocs will.

I wonder is this is how the Israelites felt when God parted the Red Sea. We think of that in terms of the victory. We sing about how glorious it would be…”you split the sea so I can walk right through it…” But I wonder what it was actually like to have the Egyptian army bearing down on you – the most powerful army in the world chasing you as you step off the shore onto the ocean floor with walls of water piled up on either side of you- nothing like anything you have ever seen before, nothing could have prepared you for this and you have no idea if this is an act of God or a freak of nature. Will it stay apart long enough for you to cross all the way across with slow moving children and animals… and if the water does hold- will the army overtake you before you can make it across? This doesn’t feel safe and secure. The Israelites could have decided to just stand on the shoreline and negotiate their safe return to Egypt as slaves. They could have wondered if in light of these circumstances, maybe that’s what God wanted, maybe this whole idea of leaving Egypt had not really been God’s will for them? So many doubts swirling in their minds- so much fear- and here’s the thing- God could have rescued them anyway He wanted. He could have transported them across the Red Sea. He could have made all the Egyptian chariots crash (I’m really picturing NASCAR here more than chariots in a desert but you get the idea… He’s a big God- He could have done this a million ways.) Of all the ways God could have rescued them, I’m pretty sure they never imagined this scenario.

I’m not sure if they realized they were right in the middle of their rescue.

We see this today as well. My kids were taught fire safety and part of the safety training involved a fireman coming in wearing all the gear they wear in an actual fire. Experience has shown them that a house can be burning to the ground but because the firemen look so scary in their equipment, the kids will hide from them. They will literally hide in the closet or under the bed from the very person coming to rescue them. When the firemen find them, they are confused and disoriented and scared – and they don’t realize they are right in the middle of their rescue.

Our eyes have to be fixed on the Rescuer of our souls because chances are we will not recognize our rescue. It will probably not come in any way we have imagined- but it will come. He always comes for us. And He enables us to walk right through the unimaginable to reach the other side.