Have you ever heard of the term “search and rescue”? It’s defined as “the search for and provision of assistance to those who are in distress or imminent danger”. When natural disasters occur, search and rescue teams send out medics, rescue dogs, helicopters, and anything necessary to find and assist those who have been injured due to the event. The overall goal is to bring people out of the danger zone and into a place of safety and refuge. They are then attended to if medical attention is needed.
I think that we can also relate this to certain aspects of our hearts and lives. Sometimes, we have a dream, a promise, a calling that God has deposited on the inside of us…but after some time, it seems to have gone missing. Discouragement, betrayal, and even self-sabotage bring us to a place in which we just don’t want to believe any more. It simply hurts too much. We’ve made too many mistakes, we haven’t seen what God has shown us, and we find ourselves giving up.
People don’t just give up overnight. Giving up is a process. It happens over time. The heart gets tired and tries to remain in faith, tries to pray, tries to believe, but with every passing day, the heart slowly lets go of the dream. The flame that was once burning, the can-do-it attitude, the endurance to fight past the resistance…it fades, it dies.
And all because it had been put in a place of distress or imminent danger, and the rescue team didn’t find it in time to save it. This happened in the story of Lazarus in the Bible. Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to come and heal their brother. And guess what…? Jesus showed up late. Lazarus died. Mary and Martha were disappointed; they were mourning the loss of the one closest to them. And their faith had been let down. What they knew God could do, didn’t happen. They may have even closed off their hearts, making it difficult to receive Jesus into their home after such a hurtful disappointment.
We know how the story goes…Lazarus died. Hope and faith died. Love died. Mary and Martha’s hearts had probably become stone-cold. But God had already planned a resurrection. As Lazarus was brought back to life, the faith in Mary and Martha’s hearts was resurrected as well. Life sprang forth, love was revived, and hearts were enabled to beat again.
So don’t give up. Reactivate your faith. God is already devising a resurrection and He’s ready to execute it. There’s a search and rescue team making a beeline for our hearts. And even when we are found lifeless or barely hanging on, our Savior is there to rescue, resuscitate, and revive. Then, our hearts are awakened with a stronger and more vibrant faith than ever before.
