DIVINE RESCUE

November 16

Bible Reading: 2 Peter 2

2 Peter 2:9, “…then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.”

Fresh out of high school, I commercial fished a small dory out of Depoe Bay. Possessing only a depth finder and compass, I was daily at the mercy of the winds and waves and currents of the mighty Pacific Ocean. One day, as I was preparing to enter the harbor, my old 55 hp outboard motor quit. With the waves crashing against the nearby shore, I needed to get help, and fast. I used my CB to call for help, and arranged my tall trolling poles according to the universal distress signal (one pole up, one pole down). Within minutes, I caught a glimpse of a Coast Guard Rescue Boat making their way out of the harbor. They quickly worked to tow me back to safety. They are good at rescue! God is even better!

There is no 911 to call when it comes to our spiritual troubles.  Instead, it is God who stands on the other side of our pleas for help.  Trials are an inevitable part of life (John 16:33).  It’s good to know that God knows how to rescue the godly from trials. 

The Greek term translated rescue in this verse means “to draw or snatch to oneself and invariably refers to a snatching from danger, evil, or an enemy.”  The term emphasizes both the greatness of the peril and the power exercised in the deliverance from it.  The basic idea might be compared to a soldier responding to the cry of a wounded comrade in battle.  He runs to his aid and with exertion, drags him away from the hands of the enemy. The verb, as used here, is in the present tense, speaking of a continual action.  The suffering Christian can rest assured both of God’s awareness of his plight, and God’s ability to rescue him from it, no matter how perilous it might be.

Peter draws on a couple of examples to illustrate his point.  God “rescued righteous Lot” (2 Peter 2:7).  Lot was unaware of the plight that was soon to befall the city, but God sent two angels to deliver him (Genesis 19:1).  His subsequent rescue is vividly described in Genesis 19:15-16: “As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”  But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.”  Noah was likewise “preserved” from the great flood of which he was previously unaware through the intervention of God (2 Peter 2:5).  Peter’s argument in this passage is from the lesser premise to the greater.  If God was able to rescue Lot and preserve Noah, then He is able to rescue us too. No matter how big your trouble, God knows how to rescue you. It may not be by an angel or an ark, but He can intervene in your life for good. As the Apostle Paul said (in his last words), “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).

On the other side of the equation stands the fate of the ungodly and the false teachers.  God knows both how to rescue the godly and how “to the keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9; Jude 14-15).  “Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” (2 Peter 2:3).  God will surely accomplish His alternative purposes, both with respect to the godly and the ungodly. And the final determination revolves around whether or not one knows Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10).

Charles Spurgeon once commented on this: “The godly are tempted and tried.  That is not true faith which is never put to the test.  But the godly are delivered out of their trials, and that not by chance, nor by secondary agencies, but by the LORD Himself.  He personally undertakes the office of delivering those who trust Him.  God loves the godly or godlike, and He makes a point of knowing where they are and how they fare.  Sometimes their way seems to be a labyrinth, and they cannot imagine how they are to escape from threatening danger.  What they do not know, their LORD knows.  He knows whom to deliver, and when to deliver, and how to deliver.  He delivers in the way which is most beneficial to the godly, most crushing to the tempter, and most glorifying to Himself.  We may leave the ‘how’ with the LORD and be content to rejoice in the fact that He will, in some way or other, bring His own people through all the dangers, trials, and temptations for this mortal life to His own right hand in glory.  This day it is not for me to pry into my LORD’s secrets but patiently to wait His time, knowing this, that though I know nothing, my heavenly Father knows.”

Charles Spurgeon

Trials are inevitable, but God knows how to rescue us from even the worst of them.

Have faith in God though all else fail about you;
Have faith in God, He provides for His own;
He cannot fail though all kingdoms shall perish,
He rules, He reigns upon His throne.
Have faith in God, He’s on His throne;
Have faith in God, He watches o’er His own;
He cannot fail, He must prevail;
Have faith in God, have faith in God.