RESCUED!

Didn't it feel good this week to celebrate the cave rescue in Thailand?

Just look at these scared young kids trapped far into the bowels of the earth.  Every mother in the world was affected by their faces.

And goodness, wasn't the story chocked full of spiritual parallels?

OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT.  This is Spiritual Picture 101.  Imagine if YOU sat trapped in that dark labyrinth, cold and hungry and with no idea of how to get out or whether you would ever be found. What would you do?

The boys were helpless and dependent on the WAY that was chosen for their rescue...just as mankind sits in the darkness of their own making, needing a way to be saved.

God made a way in Jesus.  "Salvation is in no other; there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

COOPERATION.  What abilities could the boys contribute?  They had no diving experience and they couldn't even swim!  None of them had this super-sized water pump to  suction out the water.

The team and their coach were just perched on a muddy ledge 2.5 miles into an obscure cave, surrounded by floodwaters that were rising and oxygen that was dwindling.  What could they do to help themselves?

The cave rescue was accomplished without help from the boys, just as salvation comes by grace and not works.  We love because God loved us first.

HELPERS.  You probably read that each of the "Wild Boars" (their team name) was accompanied by two divers who pushed the oxygen tanks before them and pulled the boys through tight spaces. Some were on stretchers and sedated.

What a blessing when these first three Seals and the medic (above) arrived with supplies and medicine!  The Seals stayed with the kids until the last one was out of the cave.

Doesn't that remind us of the three Persons of the Trinity who come alongside believers, promising to never leave or forsake us...and who also get us out of tight places?

SPEAK ENGLISH.  From the "just so happened" file...the Thai Navy Seals took the boys out, but it was English divers who first discovered them.  Only one boy on the soccer team spoke English.  The bright young man is an orphan and yet knows five languages.  Doesn't he seem like Esther...made for such a time?

And aren't we grateful God speaks our language?  Our Creator knows what communicates to each heart as God the Holy Spirit speaks life into our soul.

LIFE AND DEATH.  One Seal diver emerged from the cave to find out that his father had died during the rescue.  That Seal was part of saving lives, but he himself lost someone he loved.

Life can be unexpected and bittersweet; no one is promised tomorrow.  Don't you know these boys will remember this rescue of their lives forever?  May they live lives of gratitude to God!

PUTTING OTHERS FIRST.  The coach was weak when he was rescued because he had refused food in order to give it instead to his players.  They said he also taught them to drink water from the sides of the cave.  Philippians 2:3 calls us to consider others as more important than ourselves.

Outside the mouth of the cave, sticky rice and pork was prepared and sent in waterproof bags...along with this souped up gel.  The boys were only able to nibble on the rice at first because they were so weak.  Christians grow stronger as they feed on God's Word.

CREDIT.  It was sad to hear the Thailand Navy Seals post this on their Facebook page:  "We're not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what.  All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave and everyone is safe."

People who believe that God is active in the affairs of men would have a different take on the situation. We see the rescue as bringing much glory to God.

ONE FOR ALL.  Perhaps the most striking spiritual parallel in this rescue story was the Thai Navy Seal who gave his life that the boys might be saved.

Saman Gunan, 38, is shown on left with his wife.  He was returning from delivering oxygen tanks to the boys when he lost consciousness and could not be revived.

Now Saman Gunan's life is a shiny picture of sacrifice and his name is being praised in Thailand.  Mr. Gunan volunteered for his mission, but he did not know that day would be his last.

But the ONE WHO OPENED HEAVEN'S GATES knew from the foundation of the world that He would die.  Jesus volunteered for the ULTIMATE RESCUE, giving up divinity in order to come to Earth to pay sin's debt.

People who call on the name of Jesus make it safely out of this world.