As I watched the rescue of the Chilean miners this past week on CNN, this verse of scripture came to mind:
“He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope” (Isaiah 42:3a ESV).
As a member of the human race we tend to be so inundated with all of the negativity that’s in the world today, and spend so much of our time witnessing tragedy on a large scale, we tend to forget the strength of the human spirit.
Some of the events I’ve witnessed in my life include the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in January of 1986, the attacks of September 11th, and the Asian tsunami in December of 2004. So to have the privilege of watching the world come together in a coordinated effort to rescue these 33 men was definitely a blessing that filled my heart with gratitude.
I cannot imagine what it must have been like for the families of those men to wonder if they were even alive. I also cannot imagine how much time those men spent wondering if anyone was going to be able to find them, let alone rescue them. And yet, I believe that perhaps this verse is what sustained them during that time:
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit” (2 Corinthians 4:8 NLT).
Good food for thought this week!
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