Rescue From Hopelessness

    Fall has returned to Central Texas! The leaves are starting to fall. Our second cool front of the fall is due this weekend. As I was walking by my pool yesterday, I noticed a slight movement in the water. There were some leaves and debris floating in the water but upon close examination, I discovered a small, inch long, gecko swimming in the water. The gecko was definitely in a hopeless situation with no way out. I grabbed a net and gently lifted him from the water, rescuing him from certain death. He quickly scampered off into the bushes.
    Later in the day I was sitting in my den when I heard a loud thud from the window and then an immediate second thud. I looked out the window and saw that two hummingbirds had evidently flown into the window glass, and were now laying injured on the deck. One was laying motionless on its side.

The other was upside down and would give a spasmodic kick every 3-4 seconds. I expected the second bird to die after a few seconds, but it was still kicking several minutes later. I went outside to see if I could help the injured bird. I gently turned it right side up and to my amazement it seemed to gain its composure. It looked around for a few seconds and the flew off in a slow wobbly flight, to the safety of a nearby tree. I was happy to rescue the small hummingbird from its dire situation. To my surprise the first motionless bird righted itself and also flew away after another five minutes. I felt like I had done my good deed for nature, rescuing both the gecko and the hummingbird.

     There are times in our lives that we encounter the seemingly hopeless or impossible situations, just as the gecko and hummingbird. Fortunately, we have someone we can always call upon. Colossians 1:13 tells us that God rescues us from the dominion of darkness and Proverbs says that God rescues the righteous man from trouble.
    Daniel experienced several seemingly hopeless situations. In the first, the king of Babylon was upset that none of his wise me could tell and interpret the dream that he had, so the king issued a decree to have all his wise me executed, including Daniel. When Daniel hear of the decree he got together with his friends and prayed to God. God heard their prayers, and revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel, saving Daniel and all the wise men of Babylon. Some time later, evil people conspired against Daniel to get him thrown into the den of lions, but once again God intervened and kept Daniel from getting eaten by the lions.
     In II Peter 2:9 Peter tells us that the Lord knows how to rescue Godly me from trials, so the next time you are flat on your back and can't get up, or perhaps you have just been thrown in a "den of lions", just remember, there is nothing impossible with our great big God!