In Need of Rescue
By Major Beth Desplancke
When I was a first-year student in college, I attended the local community college. On my way to school, my car got a flat tire. I was a few miles from home. Thankfully, my car got a flat across the street from a convenience store, which had a pay phone (some of you might have to Google what a pay phone is). Even better, I had a quarter – the cost to use the pay phone.
I called home, hoping that although my dad slept during the day because he worked nights, he would hear the phone ring and answer, and ultimately that he would come to my rescue. Sadly, there was no answer.
What was I to do? I opened the trunk and saw the spare tire. I did not have the skills to change it myself, so that was not an option. I did not have AAA and was a poor college student, so I did not have the money or a credit card to pay the expense of a tow truck (I also did not have another quarter to use the pay phone). I sat in my car and prayed that someone would come to my rescue. Nobody came.
Finally, I walked 1 1/2 miles back to my house, leaving my car beside the road. When I got home, I woke my dad, and he came to my rescue. He called AAA, and then drove me back to my car, and we waited for the tow truck to come. Eventually the tire got changed, and I went on about my day (obviously, I had missed most of my classes that day).
I was stuck and could not save myself. I needed to be rescued.
We are all stuck in sin. Romans 3:23 tells us that for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all in need of rescue, and we can do nothing to save ourselves. Hallelujah, we have someone to turn to for rescue. Jesus is our Rescuer!
Colossians 1:13-14 says, For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We were trapped in the dominion of darkness, and we could do nothing to get out (just like my flat tire – my car was not going anywhere). But God (I love that phrase) stepped in and sent His Son Jesus to be the one who came to rescue us by dying on the cross for our sins and then defeating the power of sin and death by rising from the dead. Because of His gracious rescue, we have been brought from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son He loves. Through Jesus we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. We could never rescue ourselves – so Jesus came to do the rescuing!
I love how Timothy Keller explains it: “The Cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong. Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.”
I was thankful the day my dad came to my rescue when I had the flat tire, but I am even more thankful for the rescue Jesus provided for me.
It reminds of the song by Jordan St. Cyr, To Save My Life. The beginning of the song says:
I couldn’t fight to save my life
No matter how hard I tried
Each battle brought me to my knees
Cause I was standing in pride
Till I cried out to heaven
Threw my hands in the air
And you shouldered the burdens
I could no longer bear
Upon a cross
A cross that should’ve been mine
To save my life
You gave up yours
Fought my fight
And won my war
The empty grave
Is living proof
There’s nothing you wouldn’t do
To save my life
To save my life
Gave yours for mine
To save my life
And what should our response to His rescue be. Jordan St. Cyr says it best in his song:
Hallelujah, hallelujah, Now my soul’s alive and breathing
Hallelujah, hallelujah, I owe all my life Jesus
