Jesus Will Always Come for Us
This is Day 2 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.
There are times in my life when I desperately need Jesus to come for me, to save me, to help me, to be there to comfort me. I might be confused, or hurt, or just scared. In fact I've been going through one of those patches recently where I need Jesus, but He's not there. I search for Him, I beg Him to come, but I don't see Him anywhere.
It reminds me of a time when I was a child. My mom had bought me an inflatable dolphin and we put it in my grandmama's pool. I must of been pretty young because I can barely remember my grandparents even owning that pool. Anyway, we weren't swimming, but we were out by the side of the pool. Grandmama and Mom were talking and I was trying to get the dolphin. It was floating close to the edge, but just out of reach of my tiny fingers. I reached further and further until--you guessed it--I fell in. Right into the deep end. And I couldn't swim at the time.
I sank to the bottom like a stone (or at least that's how I remember it) and as I sank I watched the surface waiting for Mom to jump in after me. I couldn't see Mom as she wasn't in the water, but I knew she was there. But she didn't come and didn't come and didn't come, and after awhile I thought maybe she wasn't going to jump in and save me after all. Maybe she was too engrossed in her conversation with Grandmama to notice that I had fallen in. Of course Mom did jump in and save me and I realize now that I was likely underwater no more than five seconds TOPS before she did, but as a child it felt like an eternity.
That is how it can feel with Jesus sometimes, too. When we're in trouble, feeling like we are drowning in this world we pray, beg, plead, cry, scream out in desperation as we frantically search for Him. But sometimes we don't see him. Then we start to think He isn't there or he isn't coming to rescue us. But that's not true. He is there, just like my mother was there, and He will save us just like she saved me. In fact, sometimes when we look back on those times in our lives, we realize it really didn't take Jesus that long to rescue us at all, but when we are in the midst of drowning every second can seem like an eternity.
Today's prayer:
Lord, when I am drowning in the tribulations of this world, please rescue me and help me to know that You are there for me even when I can't see you.
R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Christian fantasy novel Peter Puckett & The Amulet of Eternity. He lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and three wonderful boys.