Jaws of Life

During the years I worked for the Smith County Sheriff’s department, there were a few times I was dispatched to the scene of an accident for traffic control.  One accident I remember vividly was a vehicle so mangled, the Fire Department had to use the jaws of life to get the people out for medical treatment.  They were hopelessly trapped without the right tool.  You don’t have to be in an accident to feel hopelessly trapped.  Some people feel trapped in relationships or trapped in a dead-end job.  You can get trapped in the middle of a conflict you had nothing to do with, and you can get trapped financially in a pile of debt that you had everything to do with.  Trapped people don’t think right!  Trapped people often panic and run or they come up with a plan of escape that only makes things worse.  Another reaction to being trapped is to give up and just accept where you are and live in defeat.  But please listen, if this is you, this is not God’s plan for your life.  How many people do you think are out there who are trapped and think there is no way out? Before you answer, think about what happened to God’s people after they had been delivered from their bondage in Egypt.  Pharaoh’s army pursued the Hebrews to the Red Sea.  It says in Exodus 14:3 “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They [are] bewildered by the land, the wilderness has closed them in.”
Pharaoh believed the Hebrew slaves were trapped and the Hebrews believed they were trapped and about to die. With their wildest imagination the Hebrews never envisioned that that big body of water behind them splitting open would be their escape route, but it did!  Just because you can’t see a way out where you are, doesn’t mean there’s not one. All the Hebrews had to do was, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”  You are not trapped.  God has the jaws of life and can make a way when there is no way.  Call on Him.  Cry out to Him until He parts the waters where you are.  Then give Him glory, praise and honor.