A quick survey of Scripture demonstrates that God is able to save anyone, anywhere, anytime. He is able to interrupt people’s lives and bring them to the place of repentance and restoration even when they are far from him.
We see it illustrated for us in chapter 1 of the book of Jonah. When the prophet runs away from the Lord he heads for Tarshish on board a ship that is maned by idol worshipping sailors. They don’t know the living God, nor do they think that they are about to encounter him. In fact, when the Lord sends a great wind on the sea and a violent storm arises they cry out to their own god in fear. (Jonah 1:5)
And the whole scene is not hard to imagine. We can see in our minds eye the terror on their faces as they recognize they cannot battle this storm. They are looking at death squarely in the eye and calling out to the only gods that they know.
But as you read the text you discover that their fear shifts from the fear of death to the fear of the Lord. After they identify Jonah as the cause of their predicament he confesses to them that he worships the great God – not a localized, puny god – but the great God who created the sea and land. (1:9) And with shock the sailors exclaim, “What have you done?” (1:10). They can’t believe that someone could think that it was possible to run away from such a God.
Finally, after Jonah convinces them to throw him overboard the sailors witness how the sea grew calm and at “this they greatly feared (that is, revered) the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.” (1:16). Clearly, a change has occurred in their lives. The sailors are converted – they used to call out to their own gods but now worship the living God and revere him and make commitments to him.
My point is, God is able to work in people’s lives in ways that we cannot imagine. He is the sovereign God who “does not want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And this is good news. Some of you who are reading this may feel that you are beyond God’s reach. His grace is not big enough to cover your sin and his love does not extend far enough to embrace your life. If you feel this way please know that you have bought into a lie. God is able to rescue you, he is able to cleanse you and make you into a new creation. He reached out to the sailors and rescued them through a disobedient prophet, a raging storm and calm winds, and he can do the same for you.
But you may say that you need more evidence. How can you be sure that he is able to rescue your life from sin? And I can only answer, “He did it for me and for millions of others.” He reached us not through a disobedient prophet but through his obedient son Jesus, who took on the horrors of sin and death. So my testimony, like many others, is that when I placed my faith in his sacrificial death the terrors of the storms of life grew calm and I fell down in reverent awe before the Lord. If he did it for me, he can do it for you.
Our Lord is able to save anyone, anywhere, anytime.
In thanksgiving for you, Tom.
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