Think about some of the most gripping movies you’ve seen. The Martian. Saving Private Ryan. Schindler’s List. Finding Nemo. The best stories are about somebody getting rescued.

Everybody loves a good rescue story, but many of us don’t understand how much we need to be rescued. Mostly from ourselves.

A few years ago, I went diving in Waimanalo with some guys from church. I had a 3-prong, and I saw a big Uhu just 10 feet away, eating the coral. I took a breath, got totally still, and slowly sank down to the bottom so I could sneak up on him. Just as I was about to take a shot, I got yanked by my boardshorts up to the surface.

It was my friend Brian, and he pointed down. That’s when I saw the huge 7-foot white tip shark right underneath me. Brian told me that my face was 12 inches away from the shark’s face. I never saw him, and he never saw me. He was busy hunting the same Uhu I was. I should have had my face eaten off that day, but Brian rescued me from myself.

The story of Abram is similar. If you grew up in church, you sang songs about Father Abraham. He’s one of the heroes of the faith. God chose him because he was so holy, righteous, and faithful. But … what if he wasn’t?

In Genesis 11, it says Abram lived in Ur of the Chaldeans. Chaldeans is another word for Babylonians. And when you see the word Babylonians in the Bible, it’s a synonym for wicked and ungodly people. You can see that all the way from Genesis to Revelation. They practiced child sacrifice and horrific sexual abuse as part of their worship. And from the evidence we have in the Bible, Abram wasn’t any different. His wife was named Sarai, the wife of the moon god. His sister-in-law’s name is Milcah, the daughter of the moon go. His dad served the gods as a priest.

And that’s when God broke in and pulled Abram out:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

For all we know, Abram was down at the local pagan temple, worshiping idols with the rest of his family, when God called him and promised blessing after blessing to him. He was rescuing Abram from himself. And he does the same thing every day for us.

There’s a good question for us to regularly ask ourselves: God, what do you want to rescue me from? What is it that I’ve got myself into that you want to pull me out of?

There’s always some muddy pig sty that God wants to pull us out of. And there are blessings he wants to give us. In this passage, he’s promising to turn Abram’s tiny family into a large nation (astounding, since Abram doesn’t have any kids at this point and his wife is barren). He’s also promising to make Abram’s name great (which is what the residents of Babel in the previous chapter tried to do for themselves by building a tower). And he’s promising to protect Abram from anyone who dishonors him (wouldn’t that be a great promise to have? “Anyone ever drops in on your wave, just let me know. I’ll take him out.”)

And there’s a purpose for all this: “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” The only reason why God blesses any of us is so we can bless others.

There’s another question to ask ourselves: God, what have you blessed me with? And how do you want me to use it to glorify you and bless other people?

Maybe he’s blessed you with some disposable income, and he wants you to support some ministry to a greater degree. Maybe he’s blessed you with a nice comfortable house, and he wants you to host a community group. Maybe he’s blessed you with a really flexible work schedule, and he wants you to use your free time to be a mentor to someone.

God is rescuing you in some way. And he’s blessing you in some way. And the purpose is so that he can bless the people around you through the grace of Jesus Christ.