Read His Words Before Ours!
Daniel 3:8-30
Matthew 14:22-33
Romans 8:31-39 
It was a freakish storm seemingly coming out of nowhere. What was once a beautiful sunny day, suddenly grew pitch black with fast moving clouds that covered the area within just a few minutes. Pattering drops soon became sheets of cold rain accompanied by loud claps of thunder, whistling wind, and brilliant lightning bolts flashing through the now dark sky.
I was about 10 years old at a Christian summer camp.
A full week of games, sports, water activities, and awkward moments with people I barely knew. Unlike most people at camp, I didn’t have any friends with me. I was new in my faith, lacked self-confidence, and had a million misconceptions about the God of the Bible. I was wrapped up in performance-driven love, but that sudden summer storm has re-played itself in my mind’s eye countless times since, becoming a solid anchor that shaped my view of God.
I was on a trail hike with other campers when the storm hit, and, like every other pre-teen girl, I ran as fast as I could towards the cabins, screaming all the way.
But everyone passed me up and I was left running alone.
Everything was so dark.
The heavy, chilling rain bit into my skin and eyes as I ran.
I screamed for everyone to wait, but no one heard, or cared.
And then my foot found an enormous black hole, and my leg was swallowed with cold mud.
I was stuck and terrified with no one to hear or see me.
Lightening was everywhere and to my freaked-out-10-year-old-self, I was pretty sure I was going to die there in that mud hole. Alone and forgotten, despite my screams.
Dramatic, I know.
But real to me, nonetheless.
Suddenly, I saw a tall figure emerge from the wooded area far ahead of me. Tall and running towards me, a counselor grabbed me from the mud, hefted me to his shoulder, and carried me to the cabin.
In that one moment, the storm no longer mattered to me.
The torrents and flashes could continue their barrage all day, it didn’t matter.
I was safe.
I was valuable.
I was worth rescuing.
I have no other memory of that counselor, no idea what songs we sang that week, and I don’t remember one spiritual conversation, but the image of being rescued has bound me to my view of God ever since.
The prophet Jonah, just thrown overboard in a tumultuous sea and rescued by an unlikely, swimming hero, prays, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress.”
Safe. Valuable. Worth rescuing.
God knew where Jonah would be drowning, knew where to send the hungry sea creature, and then directed that nautical giant to Ninevah’s shores where God wanted Jonah to go.
The disciple Peter, bravado turning to fear when the storms threatened to overtake him as he walked on the water towards the Savior,
“…and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”
Safe. Valuable. Worth rescuing.
Jesus knew He held all authority over the wind and waves.
Jesus knew He alone could rescue Peter, not just from physically drowning, but from living a life without fear.
Three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into a fiery furnace for their refusal to bow down and worship a golden statue. Their declaration?
“…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.”
Safe. Valuable. Worth rescuing.
Thunderstorms are special for me.
I love their magnificent display of my Creator’s power, the scent of the raw earth, and the
reminder that my God is a rescuing God.
He is “for me and not against me.”
I don’t know what your battles look like.
I do know that I’ve had plenty of them, as I’m sure have you.
And with every passing storm, I’ve learned a bit more about the God who holds all authority over it.
God’s response to Jonah’s distress call?
“….and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and (He) heard my voice.”
How did Jesus respond to Peter’s faithless fear?
“Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him.”
God’s answer to the three men in the furnace?
“But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
This battle of yours?
It has nothing on your Rescuer!
Trust the heart of the God who wrapped Himself in flesh to save you from the sinking mud hole of your sin that you might have life to the fullest.
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