The NIV translation of Psalm 18 says, “I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
The imagery of God as our rock is all over the bible, but what does it mean to have a God who is our rock and foundation? And how have I seen this while chilling in the middle of Costa Rica?
First a little back ground: I love rocks, kind strange but true, I collect them and find them really cool. So these past few weeks of ministry I have been seeing rocks pop up everywhere. Whether it’s been moving them around to make a path or collecting them out of the river. The idea of God as our rock has really been highlighted in my mind.
(my baby stack of stones)
While we were still at training camp, way back in GA, everyone in our team gave a small teaching, and I did mine about the Lord as our rock. It was something that had been on my mind and I had been reading about so I was ready to teach on it.
One of the things that stuck out most was that even as the Lord is our firm and holding foundation, houses built on rocks require maintenance.
Our faith, just like a foundation requires maintenance. If we sat around and never took an inventory on how our faith was doing, eventually we would stop growing. These past few weeks in Costa have really shown me the importance of taking a look at my foundation.
Making sure the foundation of my faith isn’t just a favorite moment, or a good podcast episode, but the foundation of my faith is built on the rock of Jesus.
The power of God cannot be changed or diminished, especially not by anything we do. He has already won all the battles we will ever face, but our faith, it requires maintenance.
Sometimes it requires us to evaluated what our foundation is built on, and if need it place our faith back onto the rock of Jesus.
So God is going to continue to rock my socks off (love a rock pun) during these next months and time and time again after that, and I can’t wait!
Wow!!! So much truth packed in this blog!! We love your point that “Making sure the foundation of my faith isn’t just a favorite moment, or a good podcast episode, but the foundation of my faith is built on the rock of Jesus.” So powerful!! Keep up the great work!! FYI – Stephen picks up rocks from everywhere we go!!!
Hannah
First of all, I so enjoyed your blog and I’m so proud of your insight of having to maintain our rock/foundation. Such a great way to illustrate our need to continue to grow and learn. We can’t wait to see you and the team in a few weeks. I think you are a “rock” star.
Love
Stephen and Teri