When God rescues you
Today I experienced some tension between my animals, and it led me to an encounter with God and how He rescues us.
I have a little yorkie named Libby who is my best little companion but lately I have realized she has a serious problem with cats. She hates them. I don’t know if it’s instincts and she is bred to dislike them or if it’s her distrust of them, but either way she has made it very clear they are NOT her friends.
Well, this afternoon I was sitting outside soaking up the beautiful Colorado sun and I had Libby out with me. She’s very good at not leaving my side, but she tends to wonder around following wherever her nose leads her. I was sitting and reading my book when out of the corner of my eye I saw our sweet barn cat, Mama, start to waltz out of the barn and make her way towards me. Apparently, she was so focused on coming up to me to get ear scratches that she hadn’t noticed Libby out with me. It was in this moment that I saw Libby notice Mama and Mama was still clueless and intent on coming to me. According to Libby I was about to die from an attack of the cougar headed my way and she put on the NASCAR speed and took off towards Mama. About the same time as Libby took off, I was leaping out of the chair and ran over to Mama and scooped her up in my arms as swiftly as I could.
At first Mama was terrified because I don’t normally sweep her up like that. She prefers being held on her terms only. But as I picked her up just in the nick of time before Libby got to her, I was able to quickly throw Mama onto the nearby hammock which was out of the reach of the guard dog headed her way.
I could hear Mama hiss as I scooped her up and she began to fight me for a second until she finally realized the danger approaching us. Then she saw the hammock and decided it was the safety net I was headed towards, and she leaped on to it.
Thankfully, I was able to get Libby under control and put her back inside and there was no damage done to anyone. It got me thinking though because when I came back outside to sit down again my mind started to reel. That is exactly what God does to us at times in our life. What I did to Mama is exactly what God does to us. Sometimes He abruptly scoops us up out of a situation or relationship or experience and before we know it we are kicking and flailing because we don’t know what happened. What is going on God? Why are you doing this to me God? What did I do? I don’t understand. All of these tend to be what we “hiss” at God. In the moment we feel out of control and so confused, just like Mama did. She had no idea why I was picking her up and why I was so abrupt about it. But then she began to see the danger I saw ahead of her, and she saw what I was doing was to help her.
God is bigger than us, He is bigger than our situations. He sits outside of time, and He knows what is to come. He knows what we don’t always pick up on. He knows what people are saying behind our backs. He knows what situations we might get ourselves into. He knows everything! He knows when we are in danger and when we need His help. He knows when we are clueless and helpless and need Him to save us. Sometimes in those moments when God abruptly removes people from your life or removes you from that job or that community or that city, isn’t because you did something wrong or were in trouble, but it was Him saving you from the danger He saw coming. He loves us enough to protect us even when we don’t want it or ask for it. He will always leave the 99 to come and find the one who is lost and hurt and needs safety. He is our rescuer, forever and ever.
And eventually when Mama was daring enough to came back out of the barn, she saw me again and came right back over to me. She realized I saved her, and I took care of her when she didn’t know she needed it. I would encourage you in those times of you feeling hurt or confused by something happening in your life and you feel like God has picked you up and removed you from somewhere, to come back to him and love on him just like Mama did. God will always have your back. He will always fight for you and with you. He will always keep you safe and protected. He loves you more than anything He doesn’t want to see you hurt. So don’t fight it, let him rescue you and bring you to safety in Him!
So, the next time something happens in your life that you feel like is uncalled for or seems confusing to you or is out of the blue, I would encourage you to look at it as God rescuing you from the danger He saw ahead. Don’t waste time “hissing” at God and asking all the questions. Simply allow him to be your father and bring you to safety.
With much love,
Kaley