God is faithful and good. God is sovereign. God is our redeemer.
What have we been rescued from?
Act four: Rescue, Week 2
Pausing at the entrance, I took a step forward. Looking around, the circular mouth of the cave was dark and enticing. If there had been a neon sign with a flashing red arrow, it would have read, "Adventure Ahead, right this way!" The smooth rock walls appeared safe and sure. They lured me in. This was definitely part of the path—I was on course. The rock walls were evidence that many others had traveled this route before. Generations of hands wearing down the stones, feeling their way forward. Etched letters on the left read "Trespassing Allowed."
Encouraged to continue along the path I was on, my desires grew more evident. My body lusted after what was coming. My flesh wanted a quiet place to isolate and my mind believed the cave ahead would be comforting. I began to feel along the walls and reach forward into the gloom. To continue, I would have to enter into the deep cave of darkness. With hesitation, I took another step. As the light faded behind me, I succumbed to the darkness and despair washed over, closing in around me. I saw nothing. Emptiness rushed in. My fingers felt the smooth sides of the cave that many ahead of me had used to guide them forward. Grief gripped me with two hands, holding me tightly. I tried to look back to what I had left, but there was nothing. Desperately reaching further out, the walls had turned away and the dark swallowed me. The hope of light was gone.
This was no ordinary darkness, it was a domain of darkness, a cavern lacking light. I saw nothing but black. Death. From somewhere, there was a stench of evil and voices whispered into the space around, reverberating—a cacophony of chaos. I was blind to the path I was once on, with feet below my sight. I followed the course of the world and listened to the prince of the power of the air. The host of demons demanded dissension. I was dead in my transgressions. I willfully trespassed into this dark abyss and I was sinking into the sludge and mire, groping along the wall like a blind woman. Unable to stand in my own strength anymore, my knees grew weak. I fell, face down. Fear held on, but humility wrestled and won.
"Save me, O God!" I cried out, "at an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me" (Psalm 69:13-16).
When I cried into the darkness, the darkness did not understand it. But God did. I heard His voice call out, "Here I am! My arm is reaching out, to you. It is not so short that it cannot save. My ear is not so dull that I cannot hear you. Your iniquity has separated you from Me and your sins have hidden My face from you. It is in the darkness that you cannot see. But I am here. I will rescue you. My daughter, the cost of following the neon sign, walking where trespassing is allowed, is death—this is the domain of darkness."
"I'm so sorry, I confess. I want to be rescued, I need to be rescued"
As soon as I spoke these words, the crevice overhead opened up, and the cracks in my rebellious pride broke open. The light shone into my heart, into the darkest parts. Hope leapt out. Jesus, perfect and without sin, the brightest light, without any darkness or shadow. He is my Savior, my rescue.
By faith, I reached out my hand and placed it in the hand of the One who heard my cry. By grace, He pulled me out of my despair and broke the grip of grief. He spoke truth into the chaos, and peace flooded my soul. He told me of His death that saved me from mine. He told me of the kindness of His Father, whom I get to live with forever, unlimited by time. He said, "Death reigns no more. The death that I died has freed you from this cave. Because of me, consider yourself to be dead to sin and alive with Me."
My Jesus rescued me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the kingdom of light—the Kingdom of Christ, in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, the freedom from darkness, and the freedom from death.
Have you been rescued from the darkness, or are you still groping around in the depths of the cave?
♥️ Meghan
