Their car had skidded off the road and stopped in a ditch beside the highway. One girl was unconscious. Others escaped with minor injuries. One girl who was unharmed had presence of mind enough to climb the embankment and solicit help from a passing trucker. He had just removed EVERYONE from the car when it suddenly burst into flames, flames that consumed the car and all its luggage.
That same week, news reached us that a beloved pastor from Virginia, father of about six children, had drowned in a strong river in Mexico while visiting my missionary friend, Earl Kellum, of Iguala, Mexico. We all felt stunned.
Why? The first rescue event seemed miraculous. There was NO RESCUE in the 2nd event. Why, God?
Psalm 68:20 gave me some hope when I saw an alternative reading to the word “issues.”
I had read the verse many, many times in the King James Version: “He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.” It made no sense at all to me. Then I noticed in other versions “issues” can mean “escape” (NIV) or “deliverances” (ESV) from death.
Where do these escapes come from? From God. KJV says “…unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.”
So, it is not my problem to settle why one is rescued and another is not. The escape belongs to God, not us. Doesn’t He have the right to do what He pleases with His own? (Matt. 20:15) Survivors need not feel “survivor’s guilt or remorse.”
A more recent example occurred in July, 2015. While on vacation with family in Alabama, I experienced a brain aneurysm on July 9. That same week, a younger friend in our church ladies group died instantly from a heart attack. Just this week my NC neurosurgeon told me that only about 50% of people experiencing aneurysms survive. Was I “lucky”? I prefer to say, “blessed.” Apparently God gave me one of His escapes. I need to be a good steward of His gift. I daily seek His plan for the rest of my life on earth to finish building a LASTING LEGACY.