Our Rock

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

OUR ROCK

2 Sam 22:1-4

22:1 David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior — from violent men you save me. 4 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

NIV

This is just the beginning of a very long song, which seems to have no chorus, but just one stanza after another. Overall, this whole song is about the LORD God Almighty. We know these same truths to be evident in our lives. The Lord is our rock, Yahweh is the crag, a cliff on which we can stand high above our enemies. He is a place of safety where we can hide. As the world swirls around us, going crazy with all the ‘selves’ trying to impose their ways, and where sin runs rampant like a wild herd of gazelles, or a lawn out of control being overrun with weeds, dandelions, clover, and even an infestation of dried-up dead patches. We can run to the Lord and take refuge. He is our shield; he protects us from all the weeds of the world, but we must trust him, put faith to work, and hide behind him, our shield. Sometimes, it is easy to become discouraged when we spend too much time in the chaotic, out-of-control world. Sure, we have to engage with people in the world, but with what purpose? There is beauty in the world, for it is the creation of our Lord, our rock, our shield. We can enjoy the wonders of his creation, but there is also a danger if we wander too close to the philosophies or Ideologies of the world. Our salvation is in the Lord, and in him we find all truth, but in the world we can find falsehoods, lies, deceptions, snares, traps for us to be fooled into accepting what appears to be genuine, authentic, and unharming to our faith, but in reality is poisonous, a killer, waiting to bite into us and bring us down from our rock, out of our fortress, and away from our deliverer. We know these traps; we are warned about them by our Lord, and if we are not careful, not seeing their harm to us, we will not be able to rid ourselves of them, for they have become habitual. However, if we, like a child, have that simple faith and trust in the Lord our rock, our fortress, and deliverer, where we take refuge, hiding within Him, our stronghold, He saves us from the violence of men and the world. We know that we must keep our eyes upon Jesus, to look full in his wonderful face, and then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. We cannot praise the things of the world, but we can praise the Lord, for he is worthy. He is our rock.