Bible

Our Rock

In caring for a house, I have made one surprising discovery: Houses are anything but still.

They look still. They look stable and immovable. But it’s not true! There’s a reason why they call house care “upkeep,” because you have to keep the house up! It is always falling down in one way or another.

Winds ruffle and rip its shingles. Rain rots its seals. Vines find its walls. Sunshine blisters its decks and trim. Bugs find its chinks. Foundations settle. Drywall cracks. Mice nibble its insulation. And the list goes on.

This refuge I run to – in heat and in storms, in cold and in rain – is not that stable. It is literally breaking down daily, sometimes imperceptibly…but truly nonetheless.

This fragility marks our existence. We are frail and flappable. Even our strongest strongholds won’t hold forever.

Yet we have one sure Foundation.

The psalmists often reach for one reassuring truth about God. In tumultuous times, they recite and declare that God is a rock, the rock, our rock. He is a sure and steady foundation forever.

In Psalm 62, David writes, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken” (Psalm 62:1–2). David runs together three concepts here: rock, salvation, and fortress. This combination enriches each term with the other. God is a rock, and that means he can save us and protect us. And that God will save us and protect us is a bedrock truth.

These three concepts combine to form an image of unshakeable hope. And so David concludes, “I shall not be greatly shaken.” God’s strength and stability becomes ours when we lean on him.

Over against this image, David asks, “How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?” (v. 3). David knows the vulnerability of the leaning wall and the tottering fence. We’ve all seen such fences rotted and bent. This is the feeling, and this is the reality of our life in the flesh. But God is not subject to these weaknesses.

Again and again, David returns in this Psalm to the imagery of the rock. He sounds the refrain: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5–6). Notice that now he is speaking to himself, reminding himself to hold fast to the Rock.

And again he concludes, “On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God” (Psalm 62:7). The key word here is “rests.” David rests his salvation and his glory not on himself or his circumstances but on God the Mighty Rock.

This is the way forward. God is an unshakeable rock, and he can be our rock of redemption.

When all around is falling, we will stand on the Rock.

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We Will Rise Physically

By Derek Leave a Comment

Because Christ is risen, we will rise physically.

In every story with a jailbreak, there is one thing everyone is trying to get, one thing everyone is straining and reaching out for, one thing everyone is trying to slide off the hook, one thing everyone is trying to wrench from the guard’s belt: the keys. He who holds the keys has the power of freedom and life.

In the Book of the Revelation of the Apostle John, the risen Jesus appears to John, and he tells him the most amazing thing. Jesus says, “[17]…Fear not, I am the first and the last, [18] and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelation 1:17-18). Jesus alludes to his death and resurrection. He says I was dead, but now I am alive…forevermore! And then there is a pause, and he holds up a set of keys, and he declares he now has the keys to death and the place of the dead.

I love this. This is our hope. Take this image with you!

Picture that hospital room, the family gathered around the bedside. The doctor shakes his head and says they have tried everything. It is only a matter of time now. Jesus walks in that room and holds up a set of keys. Death will not have the last word.

Picture that family huddled around a small grave, praying over a lost little one. Jesus interrupts the prayer with the sound of clanging keys emerging from a pocket. The story will not end at this graveside.

Picture that nursing home room, loved ones now weakened and waiting. There is a knock on the door. Jesus steps in the the room, holding the keys to death. Let’s get out of here he says!

Picture yourself ten years from now. You ache and creak a bit more. You stand in front of the mirror and count the wrinkles. You sigh. There is so much you can’t do anymore. Your body can’t keep up. There was so much you wanted to do, so many places you wanted to go, so many things you wanted to see, so many things you wanted to learn, but you are running out of time. But then you spy in the mirror Jesus stepping out of the shadows behind you with a grin, as he spins a set of keys around his finger. This isn’t the end. The person you see in the mirror is not who you will finally be. You will run again and not get tired. Your strength will be renewed. The risen King has returned with the keys to death in his hand, and he has come to set you free from its chains.

How can this be? Well we already know the answer. The wages of sin is death. But Jesus has paid that penalty with the sacrifice of his perfect life, so death is undone. And now we are offered eternal life in Christ as a free gift (Romans 6:23). You can have the keys.

The Apostle Paul goes into great detail about the physical nature of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Let me read for you one particularly poignant part. In verses 20 and following, Paul writes, “[20] But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [23] But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Cor. 15:20-23). There is a lot of good stuff in these verses, but let me draw your attention to one word: firstfruits. The resurrection of Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have died. This term tells us three things. First, it indicates that his fate is the same as ours. His resurrection is not a different fruit. It is just the first fruit of the same fruit. So, we see in Christ our future state. Second, firstfruit tells us something of the order and timing. We still die because the full harvest has not come in. But, and this is the third thing the term tells us, firstfruits tells us the harvest has already begun! So, we see in the physical resurrection of Jesus what the harvest is and will be.

So the promise of Easter, the joy of our risen Lord, is not just that we are forgiven. Yes, yes, that, but so much more! Easter is the day we remember the dead in Christ will rise! No more sorrow, no more shame! We will rise! The millions dead on a thousand hillsides will rise. And we will live, and we will have our bodies restored, and we will dwell on earth as we were meant to forever with God.

Our Carrier

By Derek Leave a Comment

I don’t know that we consider this image much when we think of God, but it comes up fairly frequently in the Bible, and it is easily one of my favorites: God is our carrier.

We have already encountered this image in talking about God as our Father. Deuteronomy 1:32 says, “the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son.” In His role as our heavenly dad, God carries us.

This motif is picked up in the shepherding imagery, too. When the prophet Isaiah describes God as a Shepherd, he says this: “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11).

Later, when Isaiah looks back at the history of Israel, he realizes the only way they got from here to there was because God had carried them. He writes, “I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love…in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:7, 9b). If they were anything, it was because God had carried them.

Our redemption is also described in these terms. When Isaiah is speaking of the coming Messiah, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, he concludes, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). The Lord has not just carried us in the good days but has also picked up our sorrows and sadness.

And so, when your strength fails, when fatigue sets in, when you can go no farther, put your hope and your trust in your Carrier, and pray with the Psalmist, “Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever” (Psalm 28:9).

Amen.

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Our Shepherd

By Derek Leave a Comment

In my life, I have once seen a shepherd personally.

We were on a mission trip with a group of students, and it was a rainy day. We were traveling up and down windy roads in rural Portugal.

Out in the downpour sat a shepherd. I think he had a rain jacket on. (I can’t remember if he had an umbrella.) But there he sat in the rain, watching his flock.

That image has stuck with me. It was an insider look at true shepherding: muddy and cold, longsuffering attentiveness. It was not the idyllic shepherding of Christian bookstore paintings and Precious Moments figurines.

And yet, the Lord says he is this for us: The Lord is our shepherd (Psalm 23).

What does it mean that God is our shepherd? We may not be familiar with all the responsibilities of a shepherd, but the Bible fills in the meaning of the metaphor.

As a shepherd, the Lord…

Provides (Psalm 23:1)
Soothes (Psalm 23:2-3)
Protects (Psalm 23:4)
Delivers (Psalm 78:52)
Guides (Psalm 78:52)
Gently Leads (Isaiah 40:11; Psalm 80:1)
Tends (Isaiah 40:11)
Gathers (Isaiah 40:11)
Carries (Isaiah 40:11)
Keeps (Jeremiah 31:10)
Searches (Ezekiel 34:11)
Rescues (Ezekiel 34:22)
Feeds (Ezekiel 34:23)

And most amazingly, Jesus says that he is the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11).

This level of care is incomprehensible.

Sure, a shepherd might put himself in harms way to protect his sheep (e.g., 1 Samuel 17:34-36), but to sacrifice himself for the sheep? What shepherd would give his life for some rather cantankerous sheep?

What wondrous love is this!?

This is the love of our God.

The Lord walks among us and leads us and provides for his flock, and he loves us to the end, even to the cost of death on a cross.

May we entrust ourselves to our Good Shepherd and follow Him always.

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Our Sheild

By Derek Leave a Comment

You may not realize it, but you use a shield nearly every day.

We all do.

It’s called a windshield.

I know a windshield may not carry the same panache of a warrior’s shield, but it serves a similar function.

A windshield protects us. It protects us by bearing the elements of the road. Sure, it really does shield us from wind and the occasional rain and maybe snow. But more significantly, it also shields us from the lethal smack of a rock kicked up from another vehicle.

A rock on the interstate, heading towards your car, becomes a violent missile. The windshield, however, takes the blow. Indeed, the humble windshield has saved more than a few lives.

And how do you activate these benefits? How do you learn to wield the windshield? Well, that’s just it; you don’t wield a windshield. You just get behind it.

In long-ago battles, the warrior’s shield served a similar purpose. Maybe it was gilded and ornamented, but its function was much the same as that of our windshields. It protected its carrier. It bore the brunt of the attack. Swords and arrows, spears and darts all struck the shield and not the warrior. And the warrior just…well..got behind it.

And so it is perhaps a surprising and wonderfully encouraging thought that the Lord says he will be for us our shield.

Genesis 15:1 – “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield…’”
Psalm 3:3 – “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me…”
Psalm 33:20 – “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.”
Psalm 115:9-11 – “[9] O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [10] O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [11] You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.”
Proverbs 30:5 – “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

That the Lord is our shield means He is our protector. It means that He will go before us. It means He keeps us in safety. And in the full blossom of its meaning in the Gospel, we know that our Lord would bear the punishment due us, that He would be struck and pierced so that we would not.

And what must we do now? We just get behind the Lord, like a warrior behind his shield. The New Testament calls this faith. It is not a matter of personal cleverness or skill or strength. No, we just get behind our Shield.

We call on His name. We run to Him in prayer. We rely on Him. And He’ll take it from there.

May the Lord be a shield about you today.

Amen.

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Our Father

By Derek Leave a Comment

This post begins a series of reflections on who God is for us. We begin with “Our Father.”

God is our Father.

And He is a good Father.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is retelling the story of God’s people, and he says that when they found themselves in the wilderness “the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son” (Deuteronomy 1:32). What a wonderful picture! Like a dad who scoops up his son and carries him on his hip or hoists him on his shoulders so the Lord carries his people. This image is a beautiful blend of tenderness and strength.

This fatherly love shapes all His interactions with us. David says, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). As a father is mindful of a child’s pace, strength, weakness, intellect, or personality and adjusts accordingly so the Lord knows you – how you work, what you can handle, what you need – and fits his care to you.

But of course, the good news of the Gospel is that God is not just a Father but that He is our Father. The Apostle Paul encourages us with this reminder:

“[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” [16] The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…” (Romans 8:14-16)

All who are led by the Spirit can be assured they are children of God, and by His Spirit we are able to and invited to call out to our heavenly Dad.

We can go to the God of the universe with the confidence a child has going to their earthly father. Actually, we can go with even more confidence because we know His love and compassion for us are perfect.

And so, Jesus tells us to begin our prayers with the simplest and yet profoundest of openings: “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9).

“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Amen.

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