Rescue

Have you ever seen the television show on the Animal Planet called "I Shouldn't Be Alive"?  If not here's the basic premise of the show.  A person or group of people starts out on an adventure...sometimes a new one and sometimes one they've done before.  A typical adventure might include a kayak trip on a river or on the ocean, a hike up a mountain, a family sailing trip, a day trip into the desert, etc.  The adventures typically start out simple enough, but inevitably something goes wrong and a seemingly-innocent day of fun turns into a fight for survival.

An episode I saw recently was one in which a couple's first date consisted of a day hike in a desert-like location in Texas.  The couple started out their day of fun embarking on a couple-hour hike that would end back at their car.  However, after a short amount of time they got turned around.  They lost their bearings.  At some point their surrounding became unfamiliar.  They no longer recognized their path.  The fight...the struggle for survival was on.

Soon the young couple was in a fight for their very lives.  The 100+ degree heat soon began to take its toll on the couple.  Dehydration began to sap their energy.  Heat and dryness began to crack their lips.  Their skin soon began to turn red as it cooked in the sun's rays.  After a couple of days they began to hallucinate...see things that were not there...hear things that were not there.  In their desperation to escape their predicament, they began wandering...looking for a way out...trying to find their way back to safety.

Part of their struggle was due to the fact that they were ill prepared.  They carried no water.  Instead of sturdy hiking shoes they were wearing running shoes.  Why not?  They weren't going mountain climbing.  They were only out for a walk in the desert.  They had no ability to build fire as the sun began to sink into the horizon and the temperatures began to drop to the mid 30's.  Why would they?  They weren't planning on being out after dark.  Their adventure was only to take a couple of hours.  They had plenty of time.

As with many of the hour-long episodes, the couple's relating the details and the staged reenactments of their struggle came down to the last 10 minutes.  They were done.  They had resigned themselves to the fact that there was no way out.  They laid down to die in the desert.  They made peace with each other and themselves.  They gave up and prepared for the worst.

But then there's a noise...a sound in the distance.  The sound of a helicopter.  The sound of help coming to find them.  The sound of rescue. 

Sounds like a good show, although my wife would disagree, but what is my point? 

Here's the point...

Think of this adventure as a parable, a story designed to illustrate a spiritual truth. 

People start out innocently enough, but somewhere they hit a rough patch.  They make a wrong turn down a path they did not intend to go down.  They end up in a place they did not intend to end up.  They lose their bearings.  They lose their way.  Then the struggle is on.  The fight for survival is on.  I once heard it put like this...It's kind of like Denny's.  No one plans on going there; they just end up there.    

They fall into a cycle of self-deliverance that, even though physical habits might be broken, the inner, spiritual pain continues.  They are ill prepared for the struggle.  They have the wrong equipment.  They fight and struggle for survival.  They wander around looking for help, a way out.  They try to reason themselves into happiness.  They try to work harder, believing that if they say and do the right things everything will get better.  Work more hours.  Do more good things.  Others try more "spiritual" things...just pray harder, read their Bible more, go to church more, obey the commandments, everything will get better.  But nothing works.  There is no relief.  There is no help.  There is no freedom.  The heat of battle begins to take its toll.  They become spiritually parched, dried up.  They cannot find their way back to a life of peace. 

The day must come when we give up. 

Stop trying. 

Stop fighting. 

Stop struggling. 

Listen.

Listen. 

Hear that sound?

Hear that faint noise in the distance?  What is it?  Am I imagining it?  What is that noise?

Don't ignore that sound.  It's the sound of rescue.  It's the sound of deliverance.  If you listen closely you'll hear it.  The sound gets closer and closer.  Soon, up over the horizon pops the source of rescue.  In the case of the couple in the desert of Texas, it came in the form of a helicopter.  For us it comes in the shape of the cross.  What Jesus did on the cross is the answer.  It is the deliverance.  It is our rescue.  Hebrews 9:12 (NLT) tells us that, "Once for all time (Jesus) took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves.  He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation (or rescue...my emphasis) forever."

The final scene in the Animal Planet show is usually that of the characters climbing aboard the rescue plane, helicopter, boat, etc. and being taken to safety.  The cross is our rescue vehicle.  Without going into too much detail in this blog entry (look for more of that in future posts!), our complete rescue was provided for on that "vehicle".  Jesus bore our sins and freed us from its penalties.  We no longer have to wander in the wilderness looking for a way to safety.  Before time began, God knew we needed to be rescued.  He knew you and I would be in dire straits, in need of rescue and provided it in the form of a cross.  All we have to do to find peace and safety is climb aboard.  Allow Him to rescue us.