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“For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. –– Psalm 62:5-7
While I have often been accused of having rocks in my head, I can at least take some comfort that rocks play a frequent role in Scripture as an image pointing us to the strength, protection, provision, and steadfastness of God. Upon seeing the ladder connecting earth and heaven, Jacob lifted up an Ebenezer, a stone of help, as a monument honoring the God who conferred upon Jacob the covenant promise God had given to Abraham. In the same way, Samuel set up an Ebenezer honoring the God who had brought them thus far into a land of promise. Earlier, when the Israelites were wandering through a parched wilderness, Moses struck the rock at Rephidim declaring God’s provision as life-sustaining water sprang forth for the people of God. The prophet Isaiah spoke of a future One who would provide the exiled people shelter and refuge from the world’s chaos like “the shade of a great rock in a weary land.”
Jesus foreshadowed his own offering on the cross and the new creation that would follow by quoting the words of the Psalmist, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” And when Jesus spoke of the future church, he changed Simon’s name to Petra (Peter), which means rock, he declared, On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Life is precarious in the best of times, and one must bear with some measure of uncertainty at all times. So, upon what can we rely as seasons, moods, circumstances, health, relationships, prospects, and purposes evolve, shift, change, vanish, or imperil? The image of the rock points us to that which is solid, stable, firm, not fleeting. In Revelation we read, “'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” The Psalmist declares, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.” Jesus promised, “I will not leave you desolate.” In the ever –– evolving, transitory, frustratingly unpredictable, and ephemeral world in which we live, what can we trust, who can we follow, where will we find refuge and strength? “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.” This is not an empty promise, but a solid reality through the One of whom we sing, The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.
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