Heavy summer storms had filled to overflowing the drainage canals in a southern city. So much water was a mercy to the farmers in the parched area, and a delight to all who enjoyed water sports. Yet, unprotected by lifeguards as these streams were, they were a real danger to the careless and a worry for many anxious parents.
Among those playing in her neighborhood canal was a teenage girl. She was not a very strong nor expert swimmer, but she seemed unaware of danger. Even when the swift center current caught and swept her downstream, she believed she could fight her way back to the bank.
How like the soul drifting away from God this is! To enjoy "the pleasures of sin for a season" he drifts in the current of the world, trusting to his own ability to return to the safety of early counsel or Christian teaching. Just so have many made shipwreck of otherwise promising lives.
At last, realizing her inability to overcome the force of the current and seeing the ever-widening expanse of the swift waters, the frightened girl screamed for help. A young fisherman on the bank saw the struggling girl and plunged in, hoping to reach her. He was not a very strong swimmer, but he fought the current in his effort to help until he himself was exhausted and had to be rescued. He said: "I had to try! There was nothing else to do."
Another observer on the bank threw an empty five-gallon container to the girl. She grabbed it as it bobbed past her, and encircled it with both arms. Yet the relentless flood swept her on.
About two hundred yards further downstream and still in the swift center current, the poor girl seemed to realize fully her helpless situation. Within sight was the great culvert filled to overflowing with the flood-stream from the canal. Once within that watery trap no human help could reach her.
Did the thought of her only possible Helper now come to her? Did He, the soul's only sure Refuge, present Himself to her?
The few watchers on the bank were startled into action by a desperate scream: "O God, PLEASE don't let me drown!"
On the banks of the canal stood two men watching the struggle in the water. Neither was a good swimmer, and both were painfully aware of physical disabilities. Yet at the hopeless cry one of the men muttered, "I may die first, but I can't just let her drown."
Throwing off his coat and shoes, he plunged into the yellow flood and started swimming. Letting himself be carried by the current as much as possible, he reached the frantic girl. He feared that, in her panic, she might drag both of them beneath the water, but both her arms were still desperately hugging the empty container. Grasping her as best he could, he fought against the rushing water while keeping his grip on the now half-conscious girl. Halfway to the bank, exhausted by his efforts, he was met by his friend and another man. Together they were able to pull both rescuer and rescued to safety.
The course of this world is flowing ever more swiftly towards destruction. Caught in its relentless tide, rushing helplessly onward, why not cry as that girl did, "O God, PLEASE don't let me drown"? In Christ Jesus alone is eternal life; why not cry to Him now to be your Savior and your sure Refuge from life's storms?
“ The Son of Man
is come to seek and to save
that which was lost.”