Rescue

The next entry for my Blog is Rescue, which was written by Jason Ingram, Paul Mabury, and Lauren Daigle. The song was initially released in 2018. A link to Lauren Daigle performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Rescue

You are not hidden
There’s never been a moment
You were forgotten
You are not hopeless
Though you have been broken
Your innocence stolen

I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you

There is no distance
That cannot be covered
Over and over
You’re not defenseless
I’ll be your shelter
I’ll be your armor

I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you

I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It’s true, I will rescue you
I hear the whisper underneath your breath
I hear you whisper, you have nothing left

I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It’s true, I will rescue you

Oh, I will rescue you

Sometimes in life, we feel sort of like the person that got lost in the deep dark forest in a Disney movie. We look up and we can’t see the sky due to the towering trees, we can only see so far ahead since the sun seems to barely make it to the forest floor, and the path we used to get there now looks so overgrown that we are not sure that is the right path. Have you ever reached this point in your life? A time when you feel lost, forgotten, cast out, alone, and/or unloved? The events in our life cause us to want to just disappear. As we start to come back to our senses, we realize we don’t know the way back home and a feeling of hopelessness overwhelms us, we don’t want to stay where we are, but we don’t know how to get back to where we were. We may also reach a point where we are convinced that no one can find us and perhaps there is a feeling that no one even cares. This is sort of a dire situation that maybe all of us have reached at some point in our lives or have at least been on the verge due to the events of our lives just beating us down.

At some point, maybe as a last resort, we reach out to God and put our faith, hope, and trust in him to get us back home. Of course, we should have reached out to him earlier, but we often want to try to work everything out ourselves and then reach out to him when we discover we cannot handle our situation on our own. Fortunately, he always knows where we are physically and emotionally, so we are never hidden from him. He is the light in the darkness and there is no darkness that his light of love cannot penetrate. He sees us through the darkness and shines his light so that we can see him as the darkness dissipates around us. His word tells us that we will never be forgotten, especially since we are children of God once we have accepted Christ as our savior. He always hears our plea, our SOS, and we soon feel his love surround us in the midst of our dark world. We are now filled with hope and begin to realize that we were never really alone and that he is the great physician who can heal any brokenness we may feel. As the lyric says, he whispers to us that we are ok; he doesn’t have to shout since he knew where we were all the time.

To complete our healing, God sends his army to rescue us. We are told in Psalm 23 that we are the sheep of his pasture and John 10:14-15 where Jesus says “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.” It doesn’t matter how far away we are physically or emotionally, his army will come; every single sheep is important. I view his army as our family, our church family, our friends, and maybe even people he brings into our lives for a short time to help provide the healing we need. They all come to seek us out and each will play a part in helping to make us whole again. His army may visit us in person and hold us, give us a call, maybe they send their love in a card, an email, or other electronic message. The key is that they are sent by God and doing what they need to do. All the while, God is protecting is us from more damage while serving as our hope and our shield. God and his army will fight for us until the battle is won.

It is true we will probably need help from this mighty force again, but all we have to do is reach out at any time and from any place and God will rescue as again. We must always remember his promises to find us and protect us no matter where we wander.

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Ezekial 34:11-12.

Click to Hear Lauren Daigle Perform Rescue

Shout to the Lord

This next song was written by Darlene Zschech in 1983.  It was first released in 1994 by Hillsong Worship.  A link to Hillsong performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Shout to the Lord

My Jesus, my Savior
Lord there is none like You
All of my days I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord all the Earth, let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy at the work of Your hand
Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have
In You

My Jesus, my Savior
Lord there is none like You
All of my days I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

You’re my comfort
And my shelter
You’re my tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease…

 

Most if not all of the people reading this Blog have probably heard of Jesus, know a lot about Jesus, and have maybe even come to know Jesus in your heart.  The beginning of this song puts the love of Jesus into a better perspective.   He is not just the son of God and the one who died for our sins, he is a personal savior for each of us.  All of us can have a personal relationship with Jesus.  When we accept him as Lord and savior, he becomes your Jesus; the one person who really knows your heart.   Each of us can say ‘My Jesus’ and not be selfish.  John 10:14-15 reminds us of how the shepherd knows his sheep and Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.   Jesus should be thought of not just as the son of God, but a personal savior and the closest friend we could ever have.  Why wouldn’t we want to sing our praises to him as long as we live?  There is no greater love and no greater friend than Jesus our savior.

Not only has he prepared a place for us in heaven by giving his life for us, he is the only person who we confess to and not be judged for our mistakes.  He died for those mistakes, but is always there to let us fully open our hearts to him.  His door is always open to us to give us the comfort we need in times of trials and suffering; as well as being the strength we need to overcome whatever the world throws at us.  Because of what Christ does for us and has done for us, we should worship him with everything we have and fall on our knees before him.  Some seem to believe they only need to do this on the day(s) they go to church, but isn’t he worth much more than this?

All of us should carry the message of Jesus to the world.  The world can be your home, your neighborhood, your town, your country, or all of the globe.  Note that the song says shout to the Lord.  I believe this means to speak openly and not be ashamed of the message of Christ.  There is no greater power than God and all of creation is the work of his hands alone.   There would be no mountains without him, no powerful and beautiful seas, and no gorgeous sunsets.

The song references many times that we should sing the praises.  Perhaps this is because we are more likely to sing from the heart and talk from the head.  I also believe that even though we may not memorize scripture as we should, we may know a lot of songs that share the message of Christ.  It is true that many of us can hardly carry a tune, but God is hearing what is coming from our heart, not the sound coming from our throats.  Our songs should be songs of joy, praise, and thankfulness since no one or no thing can even come close to matching the promise of eternal life.

Click to See Hillsong Perform Shout to the Lord