John,
Here is the Uncle Joe writing I typed this afternoon. It had such a tender feeling
for God’s people in it, and after hearing Jesus’ message to us this evening, it felt
like Uncle Joe was right there with us. Jesus’ messages to the body are timeless.
I am grateful for the times Jesus and you have suffered and laid down your life for
and with me.
Bess
Poured Out His Soul to Death
Joseph H. Murray, early 1960’s
There are not very many who would pour out their soul unto death for the saving of one in distress.
Those who have been swimming in the ocean know that there is a limit to how far the swimmers can go out to sea. This limitation is for the safety of everyone, even though some may be better swimmers than others. Though the limitation markers are out there, some will venture to go farther.
The lifeguards are there to warn those who will heed the spoken word. Some, no matter how well they can swim, at times, need his assistance inside the safety range. There are always some who will dare to go beyond the safety point. There will be times when a second warning will turn the daring one back to safety. There are cases when a life line can be thrown to those who are in danger. Then again, there are those who are so desperately in need of help that the only way to save that person is for the lifeguard to jump in the water with the drowning person. Then, not only is the drowning person in danger, but the person rescuing the drowning one also is in peril. The greater the danger, the greater the risk, and the greater the concern and love for the one in danger.
When I think of this I’m reminded of the words to a verse in the song “Blessed Redeemer”
Father forgive them, thus did He pray
Even while His life’s blood flowed fast away.
Praying for sinners while in such woe
No one but Jesus ever loved so.
My friend, that’s what he did for us. He went beyond the limits of safety to rescue us. Even through death itself.
God has had some daring leaders, through the ages, who cared enough to go beyond that which was required of them to rescue others from danger. Moses was one of them. “And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self and saidest unto them, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto His people” (Exodus 32:9-14).
“And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin – and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book” (Exodus 32:31-33). Thus did Moses dare to venture out beyond the safety zone for the deliverance of the Israelites.
My friend, how far would you be willing to go to help someone you loved? Would you dare to risk your own soul for the deliverance of a child of God who is entangled with and bothered by a spirit of infirmity that is sure to drown that soul in perdition unless he or she is delivered? I’m afraid we haven’t seen the depth of love that Christ expects us to partake of for the deliverance of his dearly beloved. How much do you care? How much do you love? Would you go beyond the limits of the safety of your own salvation and pull that one, with whom you share Christ’s blood blood, and bring him again to safety? It might be that you have the strength to save your loved one and be rescued in the end yourself.
We find another example of one willing to go beyond the safety limits to save those who were on their way to destruction. The apostle Paul had this to say concerning his concern and sorrow for the Jews. “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Rom. 9:1-5).
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Pastor John,
Amanda’s comments about Uncle Joe’s article reminded me of the time we all were at Kerr Lake in NC. I was going to ride a pontoon, and a friend from KY said he would watch Jeremy (he was about 5 or 6) in the water. Jeremy knew his boundaries for swimming, but he forgot them in his excitement of playing with others. I had told my friend not to take his eyes off of Jeremy, and he promised, but he was splashing and going ever deeper in water. That was okay to him, but was too deep for Jeremy. Jeremy was following him, and the water was up to his chin. As I sat there watching this whole scene, Jeremy took one more step and he couldn’t back up; he was now looking straight up to the sky with a desperate look on his face (playing was over), while my friend was oblivious to what was happening to Jeremy because his had his back to him the whole time.
As I watched Jeremy struggling to catch his breath, the Spirit told spoke to me, “He is drowning”. I dove into the water from the pontoon in my street clothes and sunglasses and swam as hard and fast as I could to Jeremy. As he was going under water, I was close enough to him and reached out my hand under his chin and lifted his head up out of the water. We both embraced each other with so much love. I told him, “Little buddy, you’re not as big as you think, like the others.”
I learned so many lessons that day; here are a few:
1) My children are my responsibility.
2) Because someone says they will, will they?
3) “The Lord, is the lifter up of my head.”
4) Some are not as big as they think, and the ones who are big are not as little (servant-like and dependable) as they think.
Billy M.