The Solid Rock

When we say the word “Rock” what do you think of? A huge rock – skipping rocks as a child – a rock in your shoe - pebbles? How about one of the strongest rocks – granite?  It can hold 19,000 pounds per square inch.  Or maybe you think of a sedimentary rock that crumbles easily. 

I think sometimes about a place at our house that I call “coffee table rock.”  It’s a rocky point on the upper portion of our land that overlooks the canyon below and from which I can see peaks and mountains.  I like to sit there in the summer with a cup of coffee and just look at God’s beautiful paintings and think of Him on the rock He created. 

Today we’re going to talk about another rock.

One of the names the Hebrew Old Testament uses to describe God is “Adonai Tsuri.” Which means The Lord, My Rock.

There are many scriptures describing God as “My Rock.”  Let’s look at a few of them.

Psalm 144:1-2 starts out by saying

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock  . . . .” and then it goes on to describe God.  “He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge . . .”

Psalm 62:7

David says, “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty Rock, my refuge.”

2 Samuel 22:32 

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

It goes on to say

“The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!

There are more.

Psalm 19:14

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer?

King David spoke of God in the last words we read from him in the Bible.  He said in

2 Samuel 23:3 
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness and the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise . . .

All his life David viewed God as His Rock.  When you think about God, do you think about Him as a Rock?

I looked in the dictionary and these are some of the definitions I found under the word “Rock.”

·       Foundation

·       Support

·       Refuge

·       Solid 

What better word to represent God’s permanence, protection, and enduring faithfulness than “MY ROCK.”  

When we pray to the Lord our Rock, we are praying to the God who can always be counted on.  His purposes and plans remain firm throughout history. 

The New Testament in 1 Cor 10, identifies Jesus as the spiritual Rock that accompanied the Israelites during their long journey through the desert. 

Much of the time we only think of Jesus being with us after He was born in Bethlehem as a man.  That is so far from the truth.  He is God Eternal.  He was, and is, and is to come.  He was with man from the beginning.  We also read that He is the cornerstone of God’s church, even though He was rejected by man.

The Bible is full of instances where rocks are used – not only as a metaphor, but physically. 

Rocks provided safety, shelter and shade in the wilderness and were used to construct alters, temples, houses and city walls.  Heaps of stones were also used to commemorate important events in Israel’s history.  God’s commandments, given to Moses, were etched on stone so that all generations would learn his law. 

The word “Rock” epitomizes God’s enduring faithfulness. 

There is an interesting account of a woman in the Old Testament named Hannah who referred to God as her Rock. 

In 1 Samuel we find that Hannah was a god-fearing Jewish woman who could not have children.  She prayed continually and sacrificed to God asking Him to give her a child.  

The Bible tells us that she went up to the “house of the Lord” and was praying silently for a child.  She promised God that, if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to God for all the days of his life.

Eli who was the priest at that time was there.  He saw her lips moving, but no words came out.  He thought she was drunk and confronted her. 

She said that wasn’t the case.  We read that “She told him ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. . . . . I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’

Eli answered ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’”

She went back home and before long Hannah gave birth to a son.  She named him Samuel. 

^“After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, and brought the boy to Eli, the priest, and she said to him, ‘I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.  I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord. .. for his whole life.’”

Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn (or strength) is lifted high. . . .

 “There is no one holy like the Lord;
    there is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God."

God was Hannah’s Rock.  He was her support, her refuge, her foundation.  He was firm and solid.  He was to be depended on.

Her son, Samuel grew up to become an important prophet of God.  He served God – His mother’s Rock - all the days of his life.

Matthew 7 talks about a Rock as well.  Remember the parable of the wise and foolish builders?  Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount and at the end of it, He said

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the Rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the Rock.” 

Do you remember what happened to the foolish man who built on the sand?  Yes, as the little song says, “the house on the sand went – splat!”  The strong foundation is God.  The person who builds his life on God will always be able to trust his foundation.

Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

God is solid – a Rock we can depend on not to crumble – no matter what the weight we’ve put on it.  

God is that solid rock, not the sedimentary rock that’s made from a whole bunch of little pieces, ready to fall apart when a weight is put on it.

God is a Rock that can hold us, even when we are so feeble we can’t hold ourselves.  We are sheltered by God and have no need to fear tomorrow.  

God is there when the tears flow from our eyes.  He’s our strength in trials.  Remember – we can count on His strength – our Rock.

God is also there for us.  He’s our shelter when the winds of worry blow and threaten to knock us over – when we’ve lost our balance – when we feel the feet beneath us may give way – He is there - our solid, enduring foundation, never moving, never changing Rock.  If we rest in His strength we will never have to worry.

Like David said, "The Lord is my Rock"(Psalm 18:2)

Here’s a little poem I wrote to help me remember that truth. 

God is

A solid Rock to stand upon when feeble strength has fled

a shelter safe within the storm

where fears are quieted.

When my tears are shed from loneliness

or trials come my way,

my God is here - The Solid Rock

on which I trust, today.

When winds of strife and worry blow

I won’t feel insecure.

The Rock I stand on will not move.

My footing will be sure.

If only we rest on our God and trust Him in the storm

He'll be our Rock to stand upon, our shelter, safe and warm.

Diane Gruchow 2014

Scripture references from New International 
Version (NIV) unless otherwise specified.