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Rescue Me!

July 06, 2014

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 Romns 7:15-25 M!!"e# 11:28-30


While he was exploring a slot canyon in the Utah desert, Zak Anderegg made a shocking discovery.
Three hundred and fifty feet below the surface, in an inescapable depression known as a pothole, was a
small, emaciated and starving black puppy. There was no way that the puppy had gotten there all by
himself. omeone had carried him into the wilderness and left him to die.
Unable to affect a rescue, Zak left some food and a bowl of water for the dog and left to seek help but
the local police and fire departments were uninterested in helping. !etermined to do something, Zak
returned a few days later, this time armed with a four wheeler, climbing gear, and a borrowed pet
carrier.
Zak rappelled into the canyon, put the dog in the carrier, and climbed back out pulling the dog up after
him. "e then rushed the dog to a nearby animal hospital to be treated for dehydration and starvation
where he made a recovery that little short of miraculous. The puppy, now known as #iley, has made a
complete recovery and lives with Zak and his wife until they find a permanent home for him.
Zak says that as often as he has thought about #iley$s rescue, he keeps coming back to how he could
have gotten there. The dog was %&' feet below the rim of the canyon and a fall from that height would
have been fatal. The only way that #iley could have gotten there, Zak has decided, was if someone
had deliberately put him there. (ou can find a video of #iley$s rescue online on (ouTube or by using
your search engine.
"ow often, however, are we )ust like #iley* We start down a road, following someone we thought we
could trust, and suddenly find ourselves abandoned, alone, stranded and without hope of rescue. We
are good at getting ourselves into terrible messes and then hoping+ praying+ that someone will
come and rescue us from our own foolishness. And, more often than not, certainly more often than we
have any right to expect or deserve, ,od finds a way to bring us home+
+again.
-n fact, one of the things that we know about ,od is that he knew, long before we headed out into the
wilderness, that our adventure would have a bad end. .ong before we fell /or got pushed0 into that
canyon, long before we were abandoned, ,od had already set in motion the events that would lead to
our rescue. 1nce again, we begin this morning with the continuing story of Abraham and -saac. This
time we re)oin the story as Abraham sends his trusted servant on a mission to find a wife for -saac.
2nowing that the 3anaanite people are wicked and do not follow his ,od, Abraham sends his servant
to his home country, among his own people, looking for the woman that ,od has already prepared for
-saac $Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67%& There he meets a girl at the well, and then later, as he meets
the girl$s father, describes his mission this way+
34
So he said, I am Abrahams servant.
35
The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has
become wealthy. e has !iven him shee" and cattle, silver and !old, male and #emale servants, and
camels and don$eys.
3%
&y masters wi#e Sarah has borne him a son in her old a!e, and he has !iven
4
him everythin! he owns.
3'
And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ()ou must not !et a wi#e
#or my son #rom the dau!hters o# the *anaanites, in whose land I live,
3+
but !o to my #athers #amily
and to my own clan, and !et a wi#e #or my son.
4,
-hen I came to the s"rin! today, I said, (Lord, .od o# my master Abraham, i# you will, "lease
!rant success to the /ourney on which I have come.
43
See, I am standin! beside this s"rin!. I# a youn!
woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, 0lease let me drin$ a little water #rom your /ar,1
44
and i# she says to me, 2rin$, and Ill draw water #or your camels too,1 let her be the one the Lord
has chosen #or my masters son.
45
3e#ore I #inished "rayin! in my heart, 4ebe$ah came out, with her /ar on her shoulder. She went
down to the s"rin! and drew water, and I said to her, (0lease !ive me a drin$.
4%
She 5uic$ly lowered her /ar #rom her shoulder and said, (2rin$, and Ill water your camels too. So
I dran$, and she watered the camels also.
4'
I as$ed her, (-hose dau!hter are you6
She said, (The dau!hter o# 3ethuel son o# 7ahor, whom &il$ah bore to him.
Then I "ut the rin! in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
4+
and I bowed down and worshi"ed
the Lord. I "raised the Lord, the .od o# my master Abraham, who had led me on the ri!ht road to !et
the !randdau!hter o# my masters brother #or his son.
48
7ow i# you will show $indness and #aith#ulness
to my master, tell me9 and i# not, tell me, so I may $now which way to turn.1
5+
So they called 4ebe$ah and as$ed her, -ill you !o with this man61
I will !o,1 she said.
58
So they sent their sister 4ebe$ah on her way, alon! with her nurse and Abrahams servant and his
men.
%:
And they blessed 4ebe$ah and said to her,
;ur sister, may you increase
to thousands u"on thousands9
may your o##s"rin! "ossess
the cities o# their enemies.1
%<
Then 4ebe$ah and her attendants !ot ready and mounted the camels and went bac$ with the man. So
the servant too$ 4ebe$ah and le#t.
%,
7ow Isaac had come #rom 3eer Lahai 4oi, #or he was livin! in the 7e!ev.
%3
e went out to the #ield
one evenin! to meditate, and as he loo$ed u", he saw camels a""roachin!.
%4
4ebe$ah also loo$ed u"
and saw Isaac. She !ot down #rom her camel
%5
and as$ed the servant, -ho is that man in the #ield
comin! to meet us61
e is my master,1 the servant answered. So she too$ her veil and covered hersel#.
5
%%
Then the servant told Isaac all he had done.
%'
Isaac brou!ht her into the tent o# his mother Sarah,
and he married 4ebe$ah. So she became his wi#e, and he loved her9 and Isaac was com#orted a#ter his
mothers death.
Abraham$s servant had no idea how to find the woman that ,od had chosen for -saac but he prays that
if he meets a girl that offers to draw water both for him and for his camels /and camels drink a lot of
water0, then he would know that she is the one. As #ebekah comes out, she does everything exactly
the way that he prayed and she is, in fact, from Abraham$s own people. he is the granddaughter of
6ahor, Abraham$s brother. All these things were happening long before Abraham sent his servant to
find -saac a wife and ,od arranged it to happen so that everyone would know that ,od was continuing
to keep the promises that he had made to Abraham.
Today, ,od continues to be a part of our lives. ,od continues to watch over us, and to go ahead of us
to prepare a way for us to reach the future and the life to which he has called us. The problem is, we
keep messing things up. We know that ,od has placed a call upon our lives and we know that we are
not the people that ,od created us to be. We know that we are called to righteousness and holiness
and all too often our attempts to do that are pretty pitiful. ome of our failures are legendary and after
a while we can laugh about them, but it is the predictability of our failures that can get us down. -f the
spectacular failures were all we had, we wouldn$t be all that bad off, but it is the every day failures that
pummel us into submission and depression.
7ut none of that is new to the human condition either. -n Romns 7:15-25, 8aul says+
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I do not understand what I do. =or what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
<%
And i# I do
what I do not want to do, I a!ree that the law is !ood.
<'
As it is, it is no lon!er I mysel# who do it, but
it is sin livin! in me.
<+
=or I $now that !ood itsel# does not dwell in me, that is, in my sin#ul nature.
=or I have the desire to do what is !ood, but I cannot carry it out.
<8
=or I do not do the !ood I want to
do, but the evil I do not want to do>this I $ee" on doin!.
,:
7ow i# I do what I do not want to do, it is
no lon!er I who do it, but it is sin livin! in me that does it.
,<
So I #ind this law at wor$? Althou!h I want to do !ood, evil is ri!ht there with me.
,,
=or in my inner
bein! I deli!ht in .ods law9
,3
but I see another law at wor$ in me, wa!in! war a!ainst the law o# my
mind and ma$in! me a "risoner o# the law o# sin at wor$ within me.
,4
-hat a wretched man I am@
-ho will rescue me #rom this body that is sub/ect to death6
,5
Than$s be to .od, who delivers me
throu!h Aesus *hrist our Lord@
8aul says, 9- don$t know why - do what - do. - do what - don$t want to do, and - )ust can$t seem to stop
doing the things - don$t want to do.$ That sounds )ust like us. As hard as we try to do good, we fail
and as hard as we try to stop doing the things we know we shouldn$t be doing, again, we fail. -n
8aul$s words, :Althou!h I want to do !ood, evil is ri!ht there with me.1 As we read 8aul$s words,
more and more we begin to feel like #iley. .ost, alone in the wilderness, and hopelessly stuck in a pit
from which we cannot escape.
7ut )ust as everything seems utterly hopeless, 8aul says this; :-ho will rescue me #rom this body that
is sub/ect to death6
,5
Than$s be to .od, who delivers me throu!h Aesus *hrist our Lord@1
%
When we wander off into the desert, when we follow the wrong path, when we get thrown into an
inescapable canyon, or find ourselves in a pit, ,od knows all about our situation. ,od knew, before
we started, where that path would lead and he has already laid the foundations of our rescue. "e is
only waiting for us to admit our failure and ask for his help. We simply cannot do it alone and
whenever we have the arrogance to think that we can, we find ourselves stuck in a place we didn$t
intend to go.
-n M!!"e# 11:28-30, <esus says,
,+
*ome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will !ive you rest.
,8
Ta$e my yo$e u"on
you and learn #rom me, #or I am !entle and humble in heart, and you will #ind rest #or your souls.
3:
=or my yo$e is easy and my burden is li!ht.1
When we choose to run away from ,od we fall victim to our own arrogance and sin. 7y turning our
backs on ,od we become slaves to sin and our burdens begin to grind us into the ground and crush us.
7ut when we commit to becoming slaves to righteousness, not only does ,od rescue us from the pits
of abandonment, the canyons of despair, and the deserts of disappointment, but we discover that the
burdens of a righteous ,od are both easy and light.
As ama=ing as it is, the story of #iley and Zak Anderegg isn$t half as wonderful as ou' story of rescue.
.ike #iley, we wandered off, and fell /or were pushed0 into a pit so deep we had no hope of finding
our way out, but all we had to do was to cry out to ,od. All we had to do was to cry out for rescue
and, as the 8salmist put it, e li#ted me out o# the slimy "it, out o# the mud and mire9 he set my #eet on
a roc$ and !ave me a #irm "lace to stand.1
-f today you find yourself in a canyon or a pit, it isn$t important whether you wandered off or were
pushed. -f you are in need of rescue, all you need to do is to cry out to ,od. "e knows where you are
and what you need and has already set events in motion that will set your feet, once again, on solid
ground. And if you$re )ust tired of falling into one pit after another, <esus invites you to follow him, to
become a slave to righteousness and holiness instead of a slave to sin.
<esus says, :
,8
Ta$e my yo$e u"on you and learn #rom me, #or I am !entle and humble in heart, and you
will #ind rest #or your souls.
3:
=or my yo$e is easy and my burden is li!ht.1
>

(ou have been reading a message presented at Trinity United ?ethodist 3hurch on the date noted at the top of the first
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