When considering the question of who Jesus is, all I need to do is look back into my past.
Jesus has revealed himself to me in many forms throughout my life, but the one that stands out the most to me is Jesus as a rescuer. The dictionary defines a rescuer as “A person who saves someone from a dangerous and difficult situation.”
It is easy for me to say that when times are tough, I go to the rescuer but in reality, this is not always the case. Realistically, I know that Jesus is always there for me and is willing to fight my battles, but problems arise when I refuse to be rescued. Maybe it is my stubborn nature or my complacency which blinds me from my need of saving. Whatever the situation may be, I have found that in my experience, there are two common circumstances where Jesus steps in to rescue us.
The first situation is when we are at the lowest point in our lives and we are forced to recognise our need for God. I believe that God allows us to go through trials for the express purpose of bringing us closer to Him. However, this does not mean that when facing those trials, we are alone.
James 1:2-4 tells us to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you have trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We must recognise our need for Jesus to mature in faith and to have a closer relationship with Him. Often, we hear about stories where people have been rescued from danger. The common theme of those stories is that they cried out for help, alerting their rescuer to the danger they were in and they were saved as a result.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 34:17 “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them He delivers them from all their troubles.”
When we are at our lowest and we cry out to Jesus, He is ready and willing to help us. The more that we cry out to Jesus, the more we will learn to trust Him with our lives. We should take comfort in knowing that Jesus wants us to seek Him so that He can help us with whatever issues we may face. Instead of waiting to cry out to Jesus when we reach our lowest point or after we have exhausted all our resources, we should cry out to Him at the first sign of danger.
Sometimes it is our stubbornness that creates the situation we are in and Jesus in His mercy steps in to rescue us anyway.
The second situation is where Jesus rescues us without our realisation before we can even see the danger. It is by God’s grace that He saves us when we need it. I am grateful that I believe in a God who does not wait for my permission to rescue me. There have been many times in my life where I have been blind to my need for a rescuer. Sometimes, Jesus chooses to withhold information from us regarding our circumstances and it is only later when we reflect that we can recognise our deliverance.
As we look back into our past, we can pinpoint the times where Jesus has rescued us. The fact that Jesus continually fights our battles with or without our conscious knowledge of them, is evidence of His love for us. Jesus will never fail in coming to our aid even when we do not ask for it.
We probably cannot count the times that Jesus has rescued us from danger without our knowledge, but we can be thankful that we have someone who is watching over us, ready to step in at any moment.
“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
1 Samuel 17:47
Despite the issues that we face in our lives, we must remember that no matter what trials we experience whether we can see them or not, the battle is ultimately the Lord’s and He will deliver us from our situation.
WRITER: Kymberley McMurray, attends Casey SDA Church.