Faith in a rock
Here’s a family who knows what it means to build their house on solid rock, or at least under one. Can you imagine having that thing hang over your head every time you go to sleep at night? But the man who dreamed of building his home and raising a family there had visited the place for years, starting as a little boy, so he knew that boulder wasn’t likely to tumble down any time soon.
He had faith in that rock’s stability.
Faith in the Rock
The Bible uses tons of rock metaphors for God. In the Old Testament, examples are found at Deuteronomy 32:30, 1 Samuel 2:2, 2 Samuel 22, Isaiah 26:4 and 30:29, and Habakkuk 1:12. You can find many more, including Psalm 89:26-29 -
He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior.’
And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,
the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.
I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.
This is a prophecy about the New Covenant, the promise to bring us an eternal King who is to be our Rock and Savior. This is a promise about Jesus, who identified himself as God our Rock and Savior when he said -
Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. (Luke 6:46-49.)
And Peter, whom Jesus named a Stone for his faith, directed everyone’s attention to the true Rock of salvation -
Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.” Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12.)
So where are you building? Are you like that man who raised his family in the boulder? Are you resting your head each night – and your life each day – in the one true Rock and Savior? What does that look like?
I recently told my 8 year old boy, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” I meant it literally – we were discussing books and he was deciding whether he liked one or not based on the front cover.
Even though I meant it literally, he still didn’t understand – at 8 it was too abstract (or glib).
So can we even begin to imagine how Jesus’ metaphors must have been overwhelming to those he was speaking to?
I love the rock-house you’ve shown us. I love metaphors. Living life is a metaphor for learning, I think. And learning, is building on solid foundation – depending of course on the study material.
Nothing better than Biblical truths!
Thanks for posting – again and again – Tim.
That still sounds like a fun conversation to have with an 8 year old, Sarah, even if he didn’t get it.
One day he’ll get it, and in the meantime, I’m learning a whole lot about communication… which is where this post ‘came in’ I think.
Blessings!
I know this isn’t quite what your post is talking about, but it made me think of Jesus’ words, “If you stop these people from praising me, the very stones will cry out.” I took my son to Sunday-School this past week (Sarah above is the kids’ worship leader — hey Sarah
!) and a song was playing on the power point: “I am not forgotten; He knows my name.” My son is developmentally disabled and not that verbal but he got really excited to hear a song he knew; he started saying ,” Gotten! Gotten!” That is the rock-solid faith of a little stone praising God. It’s not based on intellectual understanding, but on God’s love and the joy of being with His people.
Amen! Theology is meant for discussion and is valuable indeed. But praise is for God and is beyond our cerebral understanding. Oh we can articulate it but we needn’t. There’s the difference between our God and our own need.
“Gotten! Gotten!” sums up quite nicely what it means to have Jesus as our Savior, Jeannie. Yay for Jesus and yay for your son!
Tim, where do you find these stories?! It’s great how you connect these pictures to Scripture the way you do.
Thanks Aimee. I’ll just be reading nbcnews.com or yahoo news or someplace like that and come across a story that makes me think of something else and pretty soon I’m seeing a scriptural application. God’s guidance overall, is what I figure. At least I hope so. In any case, I hope to honor him with it!
Here, here, I agree!