My salvation is on the way.

Devotion based on Isaiah 51:5

During World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker received a Congressional Medal of Honor for his prowess as a fighter pilot. Years later, during World War II, Eddie received a request to monitor military operations in the Pacific as a civilian observer. He and six others climbed aboard a B-17 for what should have been a routine trip. However, all sense of routine in this mission vanished when the plane went down. Suddenly, seven men were huddled in life rafts in the middle of the ocean.

As the days passed into weeks, their prospects went from hopeful, to serious, to critical, to desperate. Finally, on day twenty-one, they heard a sound. As Rickenbacker looked up, he saw a U.S. Navy plane flying overhead. It came in close—so close that he could see the pilot smiling at them and waving. From that moment on, they knew everything would be all right. Help was on the way.

Perhaps you have had periods in your life when you feel as though you were drifting on an empty ocean. Perhaps you are in such a period right now. At such times, you can feel hopeless, anxious, desperate, confused, and alone.

Sin can do that—your sin and mine. It isolates us from God and others. It smothers us in grief and regret. It surrounds us in unease and fear. It puts us in a dark void where the devil can convince us that we are all alone.

But that’s why Jesus came. He came to rescue us from our ocean of desperation. On our behalf, he lived the life of perfect faithfulness you and I have failed to live. In our place, he washed us clean of our every sinful failure through his suffering and death on the cross. Then he rose from the dead and walked out of his tomb.

For that reason, you have something far more certain than a smiling, waving Navy pilot. You have the cross and an empty tomb. And now, through his Word, your Savior assures you that he is on the way. He surrounds you in his grace. He is guiding all things for your good.

Prayer: