Not many lifeguards would just stand and watch a man drowning, but sure enough, this one did! A would-be swimmer was screaming and flailing his arms in the water like a windmill in a tornado! A crowd gathered on the beach and pleaded for the lifeguard to dive in and save the man, but instead, he just stood there calmly, watching the man through his binoculars with a most discerning eye. Finally, when the man was exhausted from trying to save himself, he gave up, breathed a final cry for help, and then disappeared beneath a sea-foam wave. But just before the ocean overtook him, the lifeguard emerged by his side, keeping him above the waters and bringing him safely back to shore.

Later, when asked why he didn't come to the man's rescue much earlier, the lifeguard explained, “I know it looked bad—like I was forsaking this man to an early death. But I had to let him exhaust every effort and hope of his saving himself. Otherwise he would only have fought me when I came to rescue him and thus preventing his own rescue.”

Sometimes in life God lets the “waves” go over our heads! Perhaps you have already been there: a time when you were “drowning” in a turbulent situation or the circumstances of life came sweeping over you like a giant wave? And what often makes it most difficult is that, as a Christian, you know God is never far away (Matthew 28:20), that He has promised “never will I leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5), and yet, here you are, seemingly forgotten and forsaken, left out to sea, drowning, and without a Rescuer!

In times like these, we do well to remember that some of God’s greatest sermons come to us when He is silent. Back in time God preached such a sermon to Israel. Isaiah tells how God’s people made every effort to go it alone without God's help. They sanctioned idolatry and persecuted true worshippers (2 Kings 21:1-9; 2 Chronicles 33:1-9). They rejected the rebukes from God’s prophets and put them to death by the sword (Hebrews 11:37). Silently, God gave them over to a “wave” of Assyrian and Babylonian armies: they soon were overwhelmed with troubles and they finally cried out to God for help. His sermon ended with grace and mercy: “‘For a brief moment I have forsaken you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer” (Isaiah 54:7-8).

What great words of comfort for those living in “troubled waters!” We know that if God seems to forsake us, it is only for a moment. Our trials are in God’s set time! For in this moment God has a purpose for our lives: that we learn not to depend on ourselves, but look to God for kindness, compassion, strength and salvation! Only when we recognize our own weakness can we see our need for the Almighty’s strength. It is when the waves get higher and the water deeper that we see our sin, frailty, and mortality!

Then, before we are totally consumed, God comes to our rescue! When we are delivered, we find that His purpose was never to forsake us forever, but to draw us nearer to the One who was forsaken for us upon a Roman cross—our Lord, Jesus Christ! Is not that the point of every earthly trial in the Christian’s life? God teaches us to “fix our eyes [not on ourselves or our troubles, but] on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus loved us so much that He was forsaken by God unto death to save us! Sometimes, God may seem to “forsake” us in order to keep us in Christ. How great is the worth of our souls in the eyes of God!

Daniel McQuality is pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Holland, Michigan.