When I was a little girl, one of my favorite super heroes was Batman. I can hear the theme song from the television show playing in my mind. The thing I loved about Batman and other super heroes was the fact that they rescued people from bad things. They fought for people and did everything they could to help them escape from horrible situations. I also wanted a hero to come and rescue me. I wanted someone to take me out of my circumstances, but no one ever did.

Sacred Romance by John Eldredge talks a lot about being rescued by a hero, so I would like to share a few things that he says in his book. He says, “The terror we enter and the seeming lack of rescue from it leaves us with a deeply imprinted question about God that we hide in our heart, sometimes not allowing the light of day to touch it for years, even deep into our spiritual journey. We cover the question with rationalizations that let Him off the hook and allow us to still believe, but our beliefs rest on foundations that move and quake under us.” I was at the point in my life that I was asking the hard questions like, “Lord, why did you allow all of this to happen to me? I love you and I am your child, so why didn’t you rescue me? I am afraid of what else you are going to allow to happen to me. The future frightens me.”

Eldredge says, “Job was a god-fearing man and yet something in him suspected that faith in God did not necessarily translate into peace and safety. Job replies to his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” I felt like trouble was all I had ever known and I was sick and tired of it! But, there was also a lot of good that I had trouble focusing on.

Eldredge goes on to say, “We too could be in the same position as Job. It seems like the part God has written for us is much too big and certainly too dangerous. God not only allows the Prince of Darkness to come before His throne, He points Job out to him and in effect, unleashes him on the defenseless man. There is something frightening about being in a play in which the director may allow the plot to descend on the character from a totally unknown direction, a direction that may cause me deep emotional pain or even physical harm.”

Eldredge notes that God assures us in His word that He sees our pain and cares for us and that our tormentors will be judged, but He still requires us to stand firmly on our faith. In Jeremiah, God says that He will rescue us. I love this quote from Eldredge, “Yet there is something about God’s rescues that make them a little less timely than dialing 911.” I felt like I had been dialing 911 for years and He must have lost my address!

Just a few more things from Eldredge. This is too good not to share. “If we picture God as the mastermind behind the story, calling the shots while we, like Job, endure the calamities, we can’t help but feel at times what C.S. Lewis was bold enough to put words to: “We’re the rats in the cosmic laboratory.” But, what if we saw Him not as Author, but as the central character in the larger story? What could we learn about his heart? We long for intimacy because we are made in the image of perfect intimacy. Jesus says, “Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am. I want those you gave me to be one heart and mind with us.” From the beginning we know that God is a lover at heart, for all eternity. Satan mounted his rebellion through the power of one idea, God doesn’t have a good heart.”

I am here to tell you that Satan mounted his attack against me to make me think that God didn’t have a good heart. I believed that lie because I didn’t get rescued in the way I wanted to be rescued. I think what Job said, “Shall I accept good from God, and not trouble?” is extremely important for all of us. If I am willing to accept all the good He has given me, then I need to be willing to accept the bad too. Instead of asking, “Why me? I need to ask, why not me?”

I didn’t understand why I wasn’t being rescued. I have now learned that if God doesn’t take me out of a situation, then He is keeping me in it for a reason. He will give me what I need to endure the circumstances because His heart is good and He loves me. I also didn’t realize that God was rescuing me throughout my life by being there for me in many different ways. He sent people to teach me, books and studies to help me, friends to comfort me and counseling to help me deal with my issues.

Once I sat down and started journaling, I was able to start focusing on the good as well as the bad. I wrote, “I’ve always viewed a hero as someone who comes and takes me away, but I am learning that isn’t necessarily true. A hero also protects me and fights for me in the danger. A hero helps me deal with all the struggles I encounter. A hero gives me the strength I need to endure. I still want to be taken away, but I am realizing that when You keep me in a situation that I want to be rescued from, You are empowering me to stay there. When I am weak, then You are strong. Life is not a fairy tale and I have been deceived by this thinking.”

I want to share these verses with you.

2 Chronicles 7:3 “He is good; his love endures forever.”

Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

Psalm 86:5 “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.”

Job 2:10 “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?”

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

I am here to tell you that you have a hero and His name is Jesus Christ. He laid down His life for us so we can be with Him and our amazing heavenly Father forever in heaven. God had to watch His beloved son get abused, ridiculed, spat on, beat up and die on a cross for us. Jesus plead with his father in the Garden of Gethsemane to take Him away from all that was about to happen, but God didn’t take Him out of the situation because He knew that Jesus had to die on that cross for our sins. When I think about Jesus going through all He did for us, it blows me away because I know I don’t deserve it. Now, that is a hero!

Until next time fellow sojourners!