Rayan

 A few weeks ago our television news was reporting the tragic case of a little boy called Rayan who fell down a well in Morocco.   He was five years old.  The world watched and prayed as a team began to excavate a huge hole alongside the well, digging day and night for a week.  The whole community camped out around the site, willing and hoping that the news would be good.  Sadly, it wasn't and Rayan didn't make it.  But it was not through lack of effort on behalf of everyone involved.   They gave their utmost to rescue him.   It was such a sad outcome for all who had worked so hard and so nearly managed to reach him. 

That week I was reminded of the verse in Psalm 40 v2  

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

Its a verse I know well , but I realised that whenever I've read it I've always sort of imagined the slimy pit to be something a few feet deep.  Maybe just above head height.  I've pictured God leaning over and reaching out a hand to me and me grasping onto Him as He lifts me up.   The week of Rayans accident I suddenly realised that the pit from which God rescues us is probably much much deeper than that.

Rayan fell 30 meters ( 100 feet).  That's a long way down.  That's unreachable. Its a killer.  I think God showed me that when He rescued me I was that far down.  I was truly lost and beyond the reach of anyone other than God.   The effort it took for Him to get me out of that pit was not the effort of excavators and shovels and mighty drills.  It was the effort of Calvary.   The Good News is that my rescue was a success!!!  Hallelujah!  I am saved.

God is in the business of rescue.  He is in the business of reaching the unreachable. So , as His body, we are also in the rescue business.  And sometimes that rescuing thing involves more than reaching over the edge of a slight hollow and pulling someone up.   It involves digging down through the dirt, not giving up, overcoming obstacles and sweating with the effort until we finally reach the lost.  Everyone we know who doesnt know Jesus is sitting at the bottom of a 100 foot well waiting to be rescued.  The challenge I felt God give to me was this - how willing am I to put in the hard work to rescue the lost?

The villagers in Morocco were galvanised into action the moment they realised Rayan was in the well.  They werent going to stop until they reached him.  No matter the financial cost, the personal sacrifice, the lack of sleep, the weary bodies and minds.  Nothing was more important.  In the same way we have seen the world galvanised into action this week as humanitarian aid has been collected for Ukraine.  We have been shocked into action by an unfolding tragedy.  But do I have that same passion for the lost people I know?  The same sense of urgency?   Do I have the same passion the people of the Ukraine have for freedom and truth and life?   Im pretty sure I dont.  And Im not sure how I can get it.  But recognising my lack is probably a good place to start.

Lord, today I thank you for all the people who were prepared to dig down deep into my life so that You could reach into my pit and rescue me.  Thank you that you spared no effort even unto death in order to lift me up and set my feet upon the rock.  Help me to see the lost as you see them and give me the passion and commitment to be a rescuer.  Bring comfort to Rayan's family and the families of all those who have died despite the best efforts of emergency services and others.  Rescue the people of Ukraine as they wait in the bottom of a pit listening to the bombs overhead. Reach down Lord. and lift them up. Contend with those who contend against them and be glorified.  Amen