rock

Surrounded

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

I live in a valley. Well, I guess I live halfway up a valley. My house overlooks the valley, but I can still look up at the mountains above me. Today’s reading made me think of my valley.

Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds and protects
his people, both now and forever.

Psalm 125:2 (NLT)

There aren’t many ways in and out of my valley. Really only one main highway. The city below is surrounded on all sides by mountains. Rock. Immovable. Firm. Unrelenting. Since the founding of the city, the mountains have not moved. They have not changed. They will not move. They will not change.

So it is with God. Like a city in the mountain valley is surrounded and protected, so we are surrounded and protected by God who is even more immovable and firm than the rock.

Should you ever feel as though you are surrounded by something other than God and His protection, like Elisha prayed for his servant, pray that your eyes would be opened.

Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened his servant’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

2 Kings 6:17 (NLT)

We may be surrounded by those who would wish us harm, but they are surrounded by an unshakable, immovable, relentless God who surrounds His own and protects us forever.

Daily Bible reading: Psalm 124-127, 1 Corinthians 7:1-24

Stones

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

Joshua said to all the people, “This stone has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.”

Joshua 24:27 (NLT)

It was common in those days to use stones as witnesses of great events (not that they’d be able to testify in a court of law). When God did something great and mighty, Israel would oft erect a large stone. This would serve as a reminder to them as well as to future generations of God’s goodness and mercy. These stones proclaimed God’s greatness to all who saw them.

Upon reading the verse in Joshua, I was reminded of another scripture regarding stones:

Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these [people] keep silent, the stones will cry out [in praise]!”

Luke 19:40 (AMP)

And then I got to thinking—dangerous, I know. Perhaps Jesus wasn’t referring to just any old stones along the road. Perhaps he was referring to all of the witness stones that the Jews had raised up over the years. Perhaps if his followers failed to proclaim his glory, those stones really would cry out their reminders of God’s grace and goodness.

As a male Jew who had spent many hours in the temple, Jesus would have well known of all the stones his ancestors had stood up. As the Son of God, he knew exactly why each and every stone sat where it did. He knew that every stone proudly proclaimed the glory and awesome works of the Father.

If we don’t proclaim the Good News, maybe those old stones will really cry out.

Daily Bible reading: Joshua 23-24, Luke 6:27-49

Continually

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

Have you ever mentioned a problem to an unbeliever and they look at you aghast as though you, a Christian, should be living a life free of trouble, pain, and/or difficulty? It is a sadly common misconception that Christians can and should live completely perfect lives.

Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come.

Psalm 71:3 (ESV)

Note that David doesn’t say that he stays at the rock of refuge, but that he continually comes to it. Again and again. He didn’t run to the rock once and then everything was good from there. If you’ve read through David’s history, you know that he was plagued with trouble, both of his own making and of those conspiring against him.

But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.

Psalm 71:14 (ESV)

If God only saved you once, how much would you praise Him? If He saves you again and again, how much more will you praise Him?

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.

Psalm 71:20-21

Again and again and again. David saw more trials and tribulations than any one man should, yet God saw fit to bring Jesus out of David’s lineage. If believers were meant to live perfect lives, don’t you think God would have done something for David? Instead, David’s faith was continually increased and each time trials came, he turned to God. God gave him increase in every area of his life.

The issue is not whether or not we will experience difficulties, but rather what we do when they come. Do we wallow in self pity or stand up and proclaim that God is greater than our circumstance and He is always well-able to see us through?

Daily Bible reading: Psalm 70-72; Romans 4

Higher

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

Psalm 61:1-3 (ESV)

I have heard a tale told of a man who was caught in a great storm. The rains came and the city would soon be flooded. He prayed to God that he would be delivered from the destruction. After he had prayed, a neighbour offered to drive him away to safety. The man declined the offer. God was going to save him.

The rains continued to pour and the wind blew against his house. Soon, he had no choice but to take refuge on the roof of his home. Someone in a boat came along and offered him a ride. He declined. God was going to save him.

The storm continued and the man remained on the peak of his roof – the only part of his house yet to be covered by the waters. A helicopter came and lowered a ladder. The man refused to climb it. God was going to save him.

The storm pressed on and the man no longer had refuge on the roof. There was nowhere to go. The storm took his life. When he got to heaven, he railed at God asking why he hand’t been saved. God showed him the neighbour who had offered a ride. The man also saw the strangers in the boat as well as the Coast Guard in the helicopter.

“I sent help.” God said. “But you refused.”

How often are we like the man refusing help when it comes because we’re expecting something else? When we ask to be led to The Rock, the Rock may come in many different forms. Can we see it for what it is? After all, God’s ways are higher than our own. I can never expect to understand the grandeur of The Creator, but I can learn to keep my eyes open. When I pray and ask for help, I can look for the answer in ways I may not expect.

As a youth, David’s salvation from the giant came in the form of a stone, not in the king’s armour.

What does your strong tower look like? A simple stone? A neighbour reaching out?

Daily Bible reading: Psalm 59-61; Acts 28:16-31