Sometimes I wonder at the meandering ways of the mind. This Saturday morning began, for me, in the Valley of Vision, a puritan prayer book. These were the thoughts I was dwelling upon, “Thou hast led me on and I have found thy promises true; I have been sorrowful, but thou hast been my help; fearful, but thou hast delivered me; despairing, but thou hast lifted me up.”
And it was while contemplating God’s faithfulness that I was drawn, in my prayers, to consider the title, Rock of ages. But here’s where my thoughts truly began to diverge, thanks to a tune which popped into my head…a not so unusual occurrence. And from the puritan prayer I jumped to a Paul Simon lyric. For it was Simon who sang, “my mama loves me, she loves me, she gets down on her knees and hugs me, she loves me like a Rock, she Rocks me like the Rock of ages, and she loves me.”
At this point, you might think that my devotional time was shot. However, though it might not have been the intention of the lyric, it led me to an astounding connection between God’s love and this title, Rock of ages. More often I have thought of this title in terms of strength or might. A quick Bible search, however, led me to Isaiah 26:1-4:
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
The Rock eternal, aka, the Rock of ages! Certainly, strength and might are included in this picture, but even more than this is pictured God’s faithful love to His people. So faithful is His love that He can be trusted forever. And it is this ability to trust in God that provides perfect peace to the steadfast mind—the mind steadfast in trusting God.
So often, in our culture, people speak of the importance of having faith. Pop singers tell us of the miracles we can achieve if we just believe. Even tv preachers seem to indicate that the name of Jesus has magical powers to make us prosper (combined, of course, with a generous donation). But it isn’t magic, or just believing, or simply having faith that is emphasized in Scripture. It is a steadfast mind which trusts in Yahweh God in the context of a covenant, love relationship. What we need is not some extra dose of faith, as if faith is inherently powerful, but we need more faithful trust in the greatness of our God, the Rock of ages.
The emphasis on the significance of this covenant relationship is especially seen in the repetition of God’s covenant name in verse 4 of Isaiah 26. Three times in this short verse we see the name Yahweh (LORD). In Hebrew, this verse contains just 9 words—which means that fully one third of the words in this verse are God’s covenant name, Yahweh, the great I am.
Isaiah could not be more emphatic in verse 4 that if we would experience “perfect peace” what we need is more Yahweh in our lives, more of His love, more trust in Him. Are we struggling with sin? We need more Yahweh. Are we facing serious financial or physical or emotional challenges? We need more Yahweh. Are we struggling to understand our purpose in life? We need more Yahweh.
I am not talking about a magical incantation which will make our trials go away. Nor am I advocating a prescription of “three hail Marys and two our Fathers.” And I am certainly not saying that we simply have to have the right kind of faith, or a super-dose of faith, or a faith that is combined with a generous donation. What I am saying is that we need “a closer walk with thee.” We need to grow in our daily walk that we might grow in more genuine daily dependence upon and leading by His Holy Spirit. I wish I could say it was something more romantic, something more exotic, something more flashy. But it’s not. It comes down to faithfully, daily pursuing a faithful, trustworthy God. Why? Because His promises are true. And our God loves us like…well, like a Rock! All other ground is sinking sand. May we learn, more and more each day, to take our stand on the solid Rock, the Rock of ages.
In Him, Pastor Dan