Rescued!

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters . . . He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

(Psalm 18:16-19, NIV)

We were on a family holiday at the seaside. I was a venturesome toddler. My father was playing near some rockpools with my older brother, some of which were quite deep. Suddenly a cry went up, “Where’s Peter?” I was nowhere to be seen. It was one of those “Oh, God help!” moments as my parents looked for their missing second son.

Then, it was as if another hand had guided my father to the deepest of the pools. He plunged his hand beneath the murky water and grabbed hold of the toddler beneath the water and pulled me out. He didn’t know I was there, he just plunged his arm down into the water in the place where the Lord told him to go. And, praise God, I’m still here eighty years later to tell the story!

I always enjoyed the retelling of the story – for obvious reasons. Dad, with God’s help, saved my life. And in a similar way David enjoyed retelling the stories of how God’s divine hand had directed his life on many occasions. The whole of Psalm 18 is a psalm of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance.

The final phrase of our Scripture for today reminds us of what God thinks about his children – He delights in them. So be encouraged, the Lord delights in YOU. He loves you with an everlasting (never stops!) love – and for those who are in Christ the experience of being loved stretches from time into eternity. I pray that as you read this, whatever the circumstances you are currently going through, that you will know the love of the Father’s hand directing your steps and stretching down into even the deepest of waters to rescue you.

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for Your amazing love. Thank You that You came from eternity into time so that we may go from time into eternity. Thank You Father God for Your rescuing hand which stretches down into the darkest of situations. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.