the rock

Last night I was watching a PBS special on earthquakes.  they were discussing the huge "plates" that slowly move against each other along great lengths, as in California and South America.  Inevitably these gradual and massive movements result in the release of tremendous energy and the earth eventually quakes and the sea creates tidal waves.  We saw an example of this in the devastation of Haiti one year ago.  Forces beneath us can unsettle the world around us.  Generally we consider the earth beneath our feet as dependably solid.  But even the earth has its faults!  This made me think about what is absolutely solid and what may appear solid, but can shift and topple.  Our modern culture seems to have a lot of structure and "solid" qualities: government, economies, technological progress, education, etc.  But all of these institutions and developments have "fault lines" and sudden failure can result from accumulated tension...just like the earthquakes that result from years of shifting plates below the earth's surface.  We need something in our lives and in our world that doesn't shift, shake, quake or topple.  We need something that not only appears solid...it is absolutely solid.  Jesus is the rock that will not shift.  His appearance of solidity is backed by His words and actions and so we can rest on His promises.  Really, there is nothing that we can absolutely  rely on: from the chair we sit in, to the home we sleep in, to the roads we drive over, to the government we live under, to the science that gives us answers, to the economy that provides work...or even to our personal wisdom and strength.  Any of these can shift and quake and break.  Jesus is the reliable rock.  When all around is shifting, He is steadfast...from before time began until time is no longer measured.  And we can walk this rock and know this rock and rest on this rock.

1 Corinthians 10: ⁴And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Matthew 7: ²⁴Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 

blessings,

Rob Smith