Proverbs 24:10-12 – Be active in rescuing others

In Proverbs 24:10-12, we hear God’s call to be bold and courageous to help the weak and rescue the perishing. The church is a community of people called-out of the world to embrace the Lordship of Christ and to live by a different standard. The values we hold and live by, are based on divine principles derived from God’s Word. And because our values are different from that of the world, we will face hostility. People will come against us and our fellow believers. As members of the believers’ community, we are expected to come to our fellow brother or sister’s defence. In God’s family, we are to be each other’s protector. We must be each other’s keeper. He has granted us strength to live a godly life in this perilous time. We must exercise that divine boldness and do what is right. God expects us to exercise boldness to help our fellow believers in the spiritual journey. We show a lack of strength and character when we fail to speak out for self or others in times of distress.

And while we are assisting our fellow believer’s life, we must also be mindful of the many that are still outside of the Kingdom of God. Many of whom are our friends and biological family members and people within the sphere of our influence. But as long as they are outside of God’s Kingdom, they need to be rescued from the trap of the evil one. The Bible is clear that they are tottering at the brink of spiritual death and need to be rescued. We who have the truth of the Gospel will be failing in our duty by not seeking to rescue them from their plight. God expects us to be involved in His divine rescue operation. So long as they are within our reach, God will hold us responsible for not seeking to help them out of death trap. No amount of excuse will exonerate us from not witnessing to them.

When we see a person in spiritual peril, it is our duty to come to their assistance. There can be no reasonable excuse for not doing so. One can feign ignorance but we can never escape the eye of the LORD, who weighs and knows everyone’s heart. He knows exactly what we are thinking. He can identify our worthless excuses. And we will all be called into accounting for not doing our duty. Know that we are God’s ambassadors in the world today. We must encourage those in the community of faith, but we must also rescue those outside. God will hold us accountable for those we can reach for him and yet fail to do so. We must speak out to encourage, to warn the distress and to rescue the perishing. This is our duty, so let’s do it!