I have heard
so many say that they were not ready to be rescued until they hit rock bottom.
I am not absolutely sure why this happens but I suppose there have been times
in my life when I really was not ready to be made healthy. Perhaps I had
lessons to learn by being in a mess. We have all been in messes but I would
assume that sooner or later we would want to be rescued. So how do we get ready
for rescue?
Being ready
for rescue is a willingness towards obedience and faithfulness. As we look at
the period of history most commonly known as the time if the exodus we can
learn several ways to prepared ourselves for the freedom that comes from being
rescued by God through others. First, I belive that we should recognize that
oue mess has become unbearable. That it what the Israelites felt in Exodus
chapter one. Here that had experienced population explosion and not everyone
was thrilled at the rate by which God was blessing them. One of those not so
thrilled was the Pharaoh who oppressed them greatly (Ex. 1)
A few things that we can learn from this begin with the
fact that problems can become unbearable when others mistreat us as God is
blessing us. This helps us understand that the existence of problems does not
mean an absence of God. These types of problems are not because we have not
anything wrong, but they become unbearable none the less. It is at those point
when we must put our hope in the reality that God hears us as He heard the Israelites.
This leads us to our second thought on being ready for
rescue. Believe that God will send a rescuer. The Israelites need a rescuer and
God was raising up Moses for the job. Moses went through unimaginable
difficulties as God matured him for his role in the work of God (Exodus 2-4). The
account in these few chapters, reveal to us the reality that those God uses to
help others often move through unimaginable difficulties themselves. These soon
to be rescuers often have made huge mistakes. How they rebound from these
mistakes through a willing to be used of God makes all the difference. This is
what Moses did at his calling.
As God connects us with those He intends to use in our
lives, we must realize that there may be moments when all is in the balance.
This was true as Moses confronts Pharaoh in Exodus 5:1–11:10. At this point in the story everything was at
stake and God was working through Moses. For the majority of this account,
things did not seem to be going very well at all. We even read of God hardening
the heart of Pharaoh which seems to be counter-productive to what He had called
Moses to do. Do you ever feel like God is working against what He called you to
do? From this we learn that faithfulness is required as God works the hearts of
those who don’t believe in Him.
Finally, in order to prepare ourselves to be rescued, we
need to accept our invitation to participate. In Exodus 12 we see God requiring
participation from the Israelites. This
participation in our own rescue is not without difficulty and faithfulness. Knowing
that our rescue will positively affect the future generations of our families,
will propel us to action. The bottom
line is, if you are not moving forward check your level of obedience and
faithfulness to God’s process. As you prepare for your rescue, you may be
becoming someone’s Moses.
