Rescue The Perishing

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“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.”

Proverbs 24:11

 

This proverb highlights two different ways that people are heading to their deaths. Certainly it is talking about physical death, but it can also apply to spiritual and other kinds of deaths. Some are having life forcibly taken from them. Others are stumbling to their own death, unaware where they are headed. Both need an intervention.

One of the terms used to describe the Lord Jesus is advocate. 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Because sin affects us all, we all need an advocate. Thank God that he is merciful and advocates for us.

As Jesus is our advocate who rescues us from death, we in turn as his followers are called to follow his same example and advocate for those who are headed that direction. Our very first step is to pray and advocate on their behalf to our heavenly Father. He knows, of course, that they are on their way to destruction, so we are not informing him of anything. Rather, we come to the Lord so that we can gain his heart, his perspective and his marching orders.

Advocates are those who take action. Knowing what action to take requires Godly wisdom, and for that we come to the Lord and ask. In the task of rescuing those who are being taken away to death and those who are ignorantly stumbling toward it, we need to know what to do and how to do it. God is waiting to hear from us on their behalf.

Our Father, you know all, and you have compassion on the whole world. At times we in our own wisdom will try to rescue others. Though our heart is in the right place, we need to add wisdom to our compassion. Provide it in abundance for us for the sake of your holy name, Amen.

 


Devoted to keeping Jesus Christ the main thing.

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