Learning to Stand on the Solid Rock
Many Sunday’s I proclaim with a loud voice “on Christ the solid rock I stand.” It’s the beginning of a chorus to a beautiful hymn that has been written and rewritten but mostly maintained its central message: only on Christ can we place our hope, anywhere else will fail us. Often for me, and I assume many of you, it’s not until things begin to shift underfoot that I realize I’ve been standing on the wrong ground.
Grounds we stand on
The ground of me: When I grow weary, I often discover I’ve been operating on my own strength. God so kindly urges us to rest in Him. I am weak and when I realize my weakness, rather than pridefully trying harder, God gives me grace. His grace is sufficient for me (2 Cor. 12: 9-10). I don’t need to muster up enough energy—I need to rest.
The ground of them: When I am discouraged, I often discover that I’ve been placing my trust and hope in others. At first glance it might be easy to place the blame on the person who did xyz. But God never encourages us to place our hope and full trust in man because men will disappoint—they sin just like us. It is not their burden to bear. I need to have grace for those who “fail” me. The stability of my feet and my faith should never rest in men.
The ground of circumstances: When all is well in the world, my heart and flesh don’t fail me. I am content as a bird flying high. But as circumstances become rocky, so can my foundation. I am tempted to despair. And I know the truth of God’s sovereignty and His goodness, I simply choose, at times, to ignore it.
And yet…
When our hearts fail us, God continues to be our strength; He teaches us and is patient (Psalm 74: 26).
God chose the weak and leaky vessel to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:27).
When I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:10).
Even better…
Those Scriptures build my faith because I know that God is with me through my weakness, but it doesn’t solve my standing problem. My feet must stand firmly, securely on the hope I have in the gospel. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. Otherwise, I continue to strive, I continue to place unhealthy and unfair expectations on others, I continue to hope in my circumstances.
Jesus reminds me that I could never do enough, be enough, but that I am enough because of Him–because He is enough.
Jesus reminds me that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and so I can have grace for others.
Jesus reminds me that I have a great inheritance, so all the while the ground (or my soul) can give way, he is still my hope and stay.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
“When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.” Soul: stop standing on sinking sand, please!
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This past week I joined five storytellers in Rwanda to meet the incredible men and women served by HOPE International and capture stories. The stories are wonderfully encouraging but their lives were a lesson to me. On Tuesday, we drove out with another organization (Aziza Life) to learn from women of the Abumurvava Village, which means “The Courageous People” and experience the typical lifestyle of a woman in the countryside. As we drove out to this village and as I interacted with the women, I couldn’t get Proverbs 31, the famous Hebrews poem, out of my head.