God is our Rock!

September 29, 2010

Growing up in a Baptist church, I quickly learned all the traditional hymns. When I hear the music to those old hymns, I automatically find myself singing along. I remember singing “The Solid Rock” along with many others.

 

Throughout the years, different hymns have meant different things to me. Even as I think back, “The Solid Rock” probably meant something different in my life as a child as it does to me now as an adult. Since January 15th, 1989, I have seen how my faith has grown and how God has become my Rock!

God is our Rock!

David relied on God as his rock throughout his trials especially when he was being pursued by Saul and his army. David literally hid among the rocky terrain from numerous attacks. But, it wasn’t the rocks that protected David from death. It was The Rock who saved him! God was David’s Rock, and He is ours today too!

Psalm 18
I love you, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.

Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.

He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.

He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies,
great bolts of lightning and routed them.

The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.

All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.

I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.

With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.

For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?

It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.

He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to make me great.

You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn.

I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.

You armed me with strength for battle;
you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.

They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
to the LORD, but he did not answer.

I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind;
I poured them out like mud in the streets.

You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations;
people I did not know are subject to me.

As soon as they hear me, they obey me;
foreigners cringe before me.

They all lose heart;
they come trembling from their strongholds.

The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!

He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,

who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.

Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;
I will sing praises to your name.

He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever. (NIV)

David relied on the Rock. In fact, he refers to God as his Rock four times in this one Psalm. Other people throughout the Bible have relied on God as their Rock too.

In Genesis 28:10-19, God gives Jacob a place to rest upon a rock. Jacob has stolen his brother Esau’s blessing and now he is on the run. Jacob has no where to sleep for the night, so he lays his head down on a nearby rock. But, all along God plans to reveal to Jacob the true Rock in his life. “Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran. At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock. In a dream he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it. The LORD was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the LORD God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you--I will do all I have promised. Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, "The LORD is in this place, and I didn't even know it." Then Jacob became frightened and said, "This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven." When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God, and he named the place Bethel. Before that it had been named Luz.” (CEV)

God reveals Himself to Moses when he is hidden in the cleft of the rock. Moses has been called by God to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Moses has many questions as most of us would if we were to be given such a task as Moses was given. He wonders how the people will know that God will go with them and that God has chosen Moses as their leader. Exodus 33:12-23 says, “Moses said to GOD, "Look, you tell me, 'Lead this people,' but you don't let me know whom you're going to send with me. You tell me, 'I know you well and you are special to me.' If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don't forget, this is your people, your responsibility."

GOD said, "My presence will go with you. I'll see the journey to the end."

Moses said, "If your presence doesn't take the lead here, call this trip off right now. How else will it be known that you're with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? How else will we know that we're special, I and your people, among all other people on this planet Earth?"

GOD said to Moses: "All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name."

Moses said, "Please. Let me see your Glory."

GOD said, "I will make my Goodness pass right in front of you; I'll call out the name, GOD, right before you. I'll treat well whomever I want to treat well and I'll be kind to whomever I want to be kind."

GOD continued, "But you may not see my face. No one can see me and live."

GOD said, "Look, here is a place right beside me. Put yourself on this rock. When my Glory passes by, I'll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I've passed by. Then I'll take my hand away and you'll see my back. But you won't see my face.” (The Message)

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus taught his disciples a parable about wise and foolish builders. Jesus taught the disciples that they must build their foundation on the Rock—Jesus in order to spread the gospel. When they build their lives on the Solid Rock, they found their purpose in life. While others built on temporary things of this world that were quickly washed away like sand. “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (NLT)

What are you building your life on? Solid Rock or sinking sand?