A Life-Saving Sacrifice

The final 2 verses of Psalm 37 can reinforce for us God's nature as our rescuer - our Savior:
39But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble.40And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.

Think with me about the love of a Savior - because we were separated from God because of our sin, He gave of Himself and sent His only Son so that we might be rescued from the grip of sin and death.   And now that we have been released from the power of sin, we have the capability to walk in true freedom.  We know God's hand of rescue in our salvation experience, and we can trust His hand of rescue when we encounter temptation - He has promised to make a way out for us, and when we face the enemy's snare, we can trust in His wisdom and power to show us how to overcome.

In 2nd Peter 2, we see some examples of God as our rescuer and we're reminded of the way that He is faithful to provide a way out of temptation.
4For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;5and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;He also writes about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the rescue of Lot...then in verse 9, we read:9then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment...

Perhaps you've heard about the rock slide that took place in Colorado recently.   It occurred on Monday and reportedly sent 100-ton boulders onto a popular viewing area that overlooks Agnes Vaille falls below 14,197-foot Mount Princeton in south-central Colorado.

A law enforcement official stated that the massive slide left a gash the size of a football field in the mountainside. What triggered the slide wasn't immediately known, but he said the area had heavy summer rain and a recent snowfall.

According to a Fox News report, 5 people lost their lives that day, including Dwayne and Dawna Johnson, who were actively involved in the community in Buena Vista, Colorado - they were coaches in the schools there. Also losing their lives were their 18-year-old daughter, Kiowa-Rain Johnson, and two visitors, 10-year-old Baigen Walker and 22-year-old Paris Walkup, of Missouri.

But there were 6 people on the mountain that day - one survived, one remaining member of the Johnson family, Gracie, who is 13, was dug out of the rubble and airlifted to a Denver-area hospital with a broken leg. She reportedly told authorities that her father shielded her as boulders crashed down on them and likely saved her life.

Sheriff's Deputy Nick Tolsma is quoted as saying, "She told me at the last second when the boulders were coming down on top of them that he covered her up and protected her, which I believe it saved her life."

The father gave his life, but he had the presence of mind to try to save one of his daughters.   It's an incredible story of self-sacrifice, and one that I hope would be inspirational to every parent - we say we love our children, and I would hope that in the time of imminent danger that our protective instincts would take over and our minds would be on saving them rather than ourselves.  Even in those non-life-threatening times, I believe is a sacred call upon parents, even a responsibility, to provide a degree of protection, including the teaching of Scripturally-based principles, so that they will be able to withstand the onslaught of temptation that could steal Christ's life from them.

We were talking about God's protection earlier this week.  Here is a father who saw his daughter in danger, and as he lost his life, he saved hers.  Our Heavenly Father recognized the eternal peril that we were facing, and took steps to give of Himself, giving His only Son, to lay down His life so that we will be shielded from eternal punishment.   We were destined to lose our lives for eternity, but our Savior intervened and gave His life so that we might be rescued, and we have been placed in His hands, our lives under the control and authority of God's providence, which is the very best place for us.

He is the One who is able to rescue us - from eternal peril, and from the dangers that threaten us in this life - 1st Corinthians 10 tells us that He has made a way of escape in temptation.   Recognize that your life is in His hands and surrender to His protective care.