Sometimes we place ourselves in a dangerous environment of our own construction. When we sin, we separate ourselves from the LORD, and we begin to build a structure, a monument unto ourselves. Even as we acknowledge our sin, if we do not abandon it and repent, turning again to Christ, it is only lip-service, and righteousness is not in us. As we darken our hearts with our sin, we begin to justify it to ourselves, so that soon, we don’t even pay lip-service to contrition and sorrow. Before long, we embrace our sin and let it fill us, until there is nothing left of us.
It is in this time that we are most in need of rescue.
Some would say that we need to be rescued most when we are under attack, when we are being persecuted for our faith. This is a misunderstanding of such a situation. If we are under attack, then we do not need to be rescued, for we are in no real danger. As long as we are persecuted for our faith by non-believers, then we are on the right track already, and Christ is alongside us. Indeed, when we are persecuted for our faith in Christ, it is really Christ Who is persecuted.
Nota bene:* This is not to say that everyone who is persecuted is righteous, but those who are persecuted for Christ’s sake, and not merely on account of themselves, they are in pursuit of Christ and have laid up great treasures in Heaven (Mt 5:11-12), and they are being put in a position to give testimony in the name of the Lord (Luke 21:12-15). Those who are persecuted merely on their own account, because of some personal decision or claim or fault, must – as always – seek after Christ and put their hope in Him, that He may rescue them… not from persecution, but from the sin that led them to persecution at the hands of those who consider themselves more righteous.
After all, it is from sin that we must always be rescued. Sin puts us in chains and makes us slaves unto itself (John 8:34), but through the actions of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are set free from sin and may become enslaved to righteousness, that is, enslaved to Christ (John 8:35-36; Romans 6:16-19). By trusting in this freedom and following Christ, we can be rescued from our bondage to sin.
Israel faced this issue. Through their sin and unfaithfulness, they were forced into exile when the Babylonians finished the conquest that the Assyrians had begun. In this Diaspora (“dispersion”), they realized that in abandoning the Lord, they had cast themselves away from Him and needed to be rescued by Him in order to be saved, not only as individuals, but as a people. In anticipation of this, the prophet Jeremiah wrote in the words of the LORD,
But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear,
Nor be dismayed, O Israel!
For, see, I am going to save you from afar,
And your descendants from the land of their captivity;
And Jacob will return and be undisturbed
And secure, with no one making him tremble.
– Jeremiah 46:27
Jeremiah wrote of hope and courage in a time of great despair. When we cast ourselves away through our sin, only realizing too late what we have done, we risk despair ourselves. By praying through passages like this one, we can obtain hope and courage to face the future, trusting in the Lord to rescue us from our sin. And if we are persecuted because of our sin, not by righteous men, but by unrighteous, who seek to improve their own standing by tearing down others, then we will not only be rescued from our sin, but from the damage of their persecution as well. Either they will realize that their persecutions are unfounded, or you will realize the same, and you will see their words as emptiness, and their persecutions will lose all strength.
When we are persecuted, it is never pleasant. But if we are persecuted for our faith, for our Lord and His name’s sake, then we should rejoice that we are sharing in His sufferings (1 Peter 4:12-14). And if we are persecuted through our own fault (1 Peter 4:15), we must repent and seek the Lord, that we might give glory to Him for rescuing us from our sin and leading us to righteousness and life everlasting.
*That’s Latin for “note well.” Whenever you see “NB,” this is what it stands for.