The Rock of My Refuge (5)

 

 

“But Yahweh has been my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.” Psalm 94:22.

 

Without a Biblical theodicy, without an understanding of the character of God and His ultimate justice and judgment and of our destiny in Christ – we will go crazy, suffer anxiety and depression, and seek to medicate our distress in any number of ways. We may also attempt to become judge and jury ourselves and descend into hypocritical religion, forgetting the longsuffering and mercy of God, forgetting that it is God who causes nations to rise and fall (militarily, politically, economically, morally). In our feeble attempts to “make things right” we may align ourselves with wickedness, thinking that the end justifies the means – forgetting Psalm 94:20:

 

“Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, one which devises mischief by decree?”

 

Our psalmist writes, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” Psalm 94:19.

 

While God consoles and comforts us in many ways, the rock of His comfort is found in His self-revelation in His Word. We can trust what our Father says, and if we can’t trust Him then we have no hope whatsoever and life is meaningless – if we are the products of time plus matter plus chance then nothing logically matters in an ultimate sense and a person is of no more ultimate worth than a fly, for we are all headed for nothingness.

 

Regarding the words of God, “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10).

 

When our trust is in God and His Word, we don’t deny the reality of evil and wickedness and the suffering of those around us, nor do we deny our own pain and suffering – but we do deny its ultimate victory, for we affirm the victory of Jesus Christ on the Cross, and we proclaim His Resurrection. We also absolutely insist that in Him we are resurrected from the dead today – from spiritual death – and that we are raised to new life in Him above the sin and death of the present age and its wickedness (Ephesians 2:1 – 10).

 

As citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), we see the ultimate futility of the leaders and governments and systems of this world (Psalm 2, Daniel 2), and the ultimate glory of the Kingdom of God in Christ (Rev. chapters 21 – 22).

 

And so, with our forebearers, we confess that we are looking for a City and Country not of this present age, we confess that we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth – we do this not as an apology, but as a declaration that we are called to greater and higher things in Jesus Christ…as we call others to join us on this ultimate journey (Hebrews 11:13 – 16; 12:18 – 29).

 

“Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” (Psalm 119:54).

 

Is the Word of God our song? How are responding to Paul’s admonition in Colossians 3:16?

 

“Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

 

O dear friends, wherever we go we are to be food trucks with the Bread of Life – feeding those around us with Jesus Christ. When we gather together we are to feed one another, when we scatter we are to feed the people of the world.

 

Who are we feeding today?