I Go To The Rock

I first met ‘I go to the rock’ as a Whitney Houston song in the film ‘The Preacher’s Wife’. There are other versions, but for me it’s Whitney’s song.

Where do I go when there’s nobody else to turn to?
Who do I talk to when nobody wants to listen?
Who do I lean on when there’s no foundation stable?

I go to the rock
I know He’s able
I go to the rock

It’s a reassuring image. In an unpredictable, unstable, unreliable world, God is a solid rock, totally dependable, permanent and unchanging. In my weakness and fragility I come to the rock and find strength, security and peace.

It’s a good bit of theory and theology; it’s a reality that I’ve experienced. In times of insecurity and uncertainty I go to… lean on… stand on… talk to… the steady, solid rock that is my God.

The Lord is the rock I go to the rock for my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain and the mountain, he stands by me

When the Earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, the solid rock I stand
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend
I go to the rock

The picture of God as a rock recurs through scripture. In Genesis Jacob refers to ‘the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel’ (49:24); the prophet Isaiah refers to God as ‘the Lord, the rock eternal (26:4); David repeatedly uses the image in the Psalms, referring to God as ‘my rock and my redeemer’ (19:14)

Where do I go, where do I go
When the storms of life are threatening?
Who do I turn to when those winds of sorrows blow?
And is there a refuge in the time of tribulation?

I go to the rock
I know He’s able
I go to the rock

Jesus contrasts the wise man who builds his house on a rock with the foolish man who builds his house on the sand; on Peter’s confession ‘You are the Christ’ Jesus says ‘On this rock I will build my church’. In a similar image Jesus is described as ‘the stone that the builders rejected’ and the ‘cornerstone’, the solid foundation of faith…

This morning, with David… I’m grateful that my God has ‘lifted me out of the slimy pit, and set my feet on a rock’… my continuing prayer is ‘Lead me to the rock that is higher than I’.