Repeated Rescues
Repeated Rescues
I sank to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever! But You raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God! (Jon. 2:6)
Jaws of Death
In the highlands of Scotland, sheep often wander off into precarious places looking for grass to eat. Often the sheep will jump down ten or twelve feet to a ledge with a patch of grass, and then they can’t jump back up again. But the shepherd, hearing them bleating in distress, will not rescue them until they have eaten all the grass and are so faint they cannot stand. Why doesn’t the shepherd attempt a rescue when the sheep first get into the predicament? Because the sheep are so focused on eating, they would dash away from the shepherd, tumble over the precipice, and destroy themselves.
Such was the case with Jonah. When he finally gave up all hope of surviving, God intervened and saved him. Jonah had to die to his own desires before he could live.
Jaws of Life
Sometimes we must experience the feeling of death before we can know the freedom of life. In a spiritual sense we must give up before we can be raised up. When we realize there’s nothing more we can do, that’s usually when God intervenes and saves us—the moment we have given up trying and cry out to Him for help, when we realize we can’t liberate ourselves. In fact, this seems to be one of His specialties—delivering us from self-inflicted predicaments that leave us helpless. The truth is, we need a Savior from start to finish.
Bottom Line
We need to let go of our selfish, silly pursuits so God can give us the gift of grace and mercy.