The good news story that has captivated the world.

In the last week a breathless world has watched the astonishing recovery of 12 young boys and their football coach from a flooded cave system in Thailand. The daring rescue effort, dubbed Thailand’s ‘Mission Impossible’, relied on the co-operation of an international team of divers, medics, engineers and special forces.

As water pumps worked around the clock to clear the caves, experts from all over the world (including Israel!¹) and many ordinary Thais gave of themselves sacrificially, collaborating under enormous pressure and often at considerable personal risk. Meanwhile, as monsoon storm-clouds threatened, desperate families gathered nearby at makeshift shrines, petitioning their gods for the safe return of their loved ones.

Nothing Short of Miraculous

The chance of success was always slim, with so many potential risks. Even after the boys were found, concerns turned to the depth of the cave (3km underground), water and oxygen levels, the weather, the boys’ condition and their capacity to navigate complex, narrow, underwater tunnels – tunnels that had already claimed the life of an experienced Thai Navy Seal.

It is not surprising, then, that the successful rescue has prompted worldwide rejoicing, with many describing it as miraculous. "We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what” effused the Thai Navy Seals. “Miracles may happen every day but this is one for the ages,” said a well-known rights campaigner in the US, and “it is not hard to believe that a higher power gave a helping hand,” said the Belfast Telegraph.² Even the BBC let themselves go, describing the rescue as “almost miraculous”!³

The successful rescue has prompted worldwide rejoicing, with many describing it as miraculous.

But not all who employed the term ‘miracle’ are willing to credit the real Miracle Worker. Globalists are waxing lyrical about the virtues of a common humanity - people from all over the world joining together in common cause, with no thought to race, nationality or ethnicity. Secular humanists are celebrating the ingenuity, bravery, selflessness and tenacity of humankind.

Bible-believing Christians, however, know that none of the above would have been possible without the gracious hand of God, moving in answer to the faithful prayers of the saints. Indeed, God’s presence in the rescue effort has been wonderfully apparent - for those with eyes to see.

God Was There

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there…” (Ps 139:7-8)

We can see the Lord’s loving-kindness running through the entire mission; drawing the right experts from around the world, prompting good decisions from leaders, fuelling the divers’ strength and encouraging prayer support from believers.

But we can also rejoice at a number of extraordinary ‘coincidences’ along the way that more-than-hint at his specific intervention, over and above the best efforts of the rescue teams. For example:

• ‘Chance’ discovery: The boys and their coach were located seemingly by ‘accident’ on Day 10 of the search, when British diver John Volanthen ran out of guide-rope and was forced to the surface. If his line had been longer, he would have missed them. If it had been just 15 feet shorter, he would have turned back and they would have been underground for at least another day.⁴
  
• Boys’ health protected: Amidst fears of physical weakness and illness after two weeks underground, the team surprised medics by being “in surprisingly good condition”, while a Thai governor said "We expected them all to have pneumonia…but most of them haven’t".⁵
  
• God did not leave himself without a witness: In a country that is 98.8% non-Christian (mostly Buddhist), the likelihood of a Christian being among those trapped in the Thai cave was extremely low. Yet it has now emerged that one of the 12 boys had given his life to Jesus just four months ago. His parents have publicly thanked people for their prayers and glorified God for his safe return.⁶
  

We can see the Lord’s loving-kindness running through the entire mission.

• Monsoon rains held off: Dreaded monsoon rains were predicted to arrive days before the rescue began, threatening the entire mission. But the expected deluge was delayed, creating a limited window of opportunity. A spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization said “I’ve been looking at the weather forecast there for Chiang-Rai, for the region, every day for the past week. Every day it has consistently shown the risk of thundershowers; now they haven’t, fortunately, materialized.”⁷
• Water levels held steady: Despite overnight rain after the first day of rescues, the water level inside the cave system did not rise,⁸ meaning that the mission was not further hampered and oxygen tanks could be replaced for the following day.
  
• Just hours after the final evacuation…: Not long after the final boy had been evacuated and with 100 rescue workers still up to 1.5km inside the cave complex, the main pump system failed and water levels began rising again rapidly, prompting a frantic scramble for the exit.⁹ The pump had been working non-stop for seven days, removing some 200 million litres of water. Needless to say that if it had failed just hours earlier, it could have thwarted the entire mission and cost lives.
  

Some Thoughts

Surely this inspiring story shows just how much God loves each one of us – not forgetting even the smallest or the least – over-ground or under it! When we see pictures of the rescue effort, do we see the lengths to which the Lord is willing to go to rescue each of us from the depths of sin and the danger of death? Psalm 18 puts it beautifully:

The ropes of death entangled me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. The cords of Sheol entwined me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD and I cried to my God for help…He reached from on high and caught me; He pulled me from deep waters…He brought me into the open; He rescued me because He delighted in me. (Psalm 18:4-6, 16-19)

Contained in these verses is one of God’s great purposes in the midst of disaster: to cause believers and unbelievers alike to cry to him for help, recognising our need of divine deliverance.

When we see pictures of the rescue effort, do we see the lengths to which the Lord is willing to go to rescue each of us from the depths of sin and the danger of death?

The same is true of the terrible floods and landslides that have this week been devastating Japan, claiming over 200 precious lives – more than ten times the number trapped in the Thai cave. Surely God holds all our times in the palm of his hand – as the sobering example of Sanam Gunan, the diver who lost his life inside the caves last week, shows. Disaster can be turned for good or for ill – so our best response is to entrust ourselves completely to God’s loving, sovereign protection and humbly seek his help.

Finally, the cave rescue may provide an inspiring symbolic picture of what can happen when, in the face of darkness and death, the best efforts of humankind combine with the supernatural power of God, bolstered by prayer, to bring many out of darkness and into the light. But perhaps the real ‘rescues’ are yet to come! Can we join Thai pastor Kaui-Pai¹⁰ in praying that over and above all the false gods in Thailand, the Lord would be glorified and use this event to draw many to him? Can we rejoice not only in the safe return of the team, but also in its inclusion of a Christian lad whose new testimony may yet give him enormous opportunity to pass on his hope to others?

References

1 Winer, S. Israeli technology providing vital communications link to cave-trapped Thai boys. Times of Israel, 5 July 2018.

2 Editor's Viewpoint: Thailand cave rescue was nothing short of a miracle. Belfast Telegraph, 11 July 2018.

3 Head, J. Elation at Wild Boars team HQ. BBC News, 10 July 2018.

4 Paddock, R and Suhartono, M. Thailand Cave Rescue Turns to How to Extract Trapped Soccer Team. The New York Times, 3 July 2018.

5 Aussie doctor’s genius move in Thai rescue. Central Telegraph, 11 July 2018.

6 Thailand Cave Rescue: Parents of Rescued Compassion-Sponsored Boy Say “Thank You”. Compassion International Blog. and Bourdon, J. Soccer team found safe in Thailand cave, another rescue hurdle arises. Mission Network News, 4 July 2018.

7 Thai cave boys spared thundershowers, highlighting extreme climate disruption: UN weather agency. UN News, 10 July 2018. Emphasis added.

8 Thai caves latest: Four more boys extracted on second day of rescue operation. Belfast Telegraph, 9 July 2018.

9 Safi, M. Thai cave rescue: water pumps failed just after last boy escaped. The Guardian, 11 July 2018.

10 Mbakwe, T. Pastor in Thailand praying for cave rescue to be used as evangelism tool. Premier News, 9 July 2018.