Saturday, March 24, 2012

Immovable Rock

On Moving (Again!)

Last Saturday morning I met a young man who had just moved from Lynn and advertised for free packing boxes. He only had small boxes left and was apologetic, but I needed boxes I could handle and fit in my car. I texted him with my thanks and said it was a perfect answer to prayer.

“Christian?” he asked.
“Sure am! You?”
“Was.”
“Really? We should talk! Doug, the Lord doesn’t move. He is our only solid rock in this world.”

What a joy to remind him that no matter how far we go or how often we fail, Jesus doesn’t move. His word never fails and His promises are forever. “Just talk to him,” I urged. “Come back home to God.”

We do move a lot and change like shifting shadows. I’m on my fifth move in the last 15 months, but it's good to know that no matter what happens, the Lord isn’t a man that he should lie or change. He is the immutable God.

The Big Rock on My Trail

When I lived along a jungle trail in New Guinea, my house was built on posts on the side of a little hill in a rain forest of mango swamps. There were no roads or highways, and very little fluctuation in the environment except for muddy trails and waterways and little round waters that glistened like pearls in the sunlight when you flew overhead in a Cessna.

On the ground level, we traveled on earthen trails that we kept cutting back with bush knives. When you live in a place that gets 3-6” of rain per night, you usually couldn’t wear flip flops because they would either slide or get stuck in muck. When we shored at the village, we would smack in and out of muddy clay and then slip slap barefooted up the trail.

You can imagine my surprise to find one large white rock on the side of our hill. The rarity of this little boulder was reinforced by the fact that we called it “the rock,” because we knew of no others in our area, except way up in the headwaters toward Indonesia.

Whenever we had earthquakes, water would slosh out of our water tanks, trees would fall into the river and wash away, but that rock never moved. That one granite rock in a world of mud and earthquakes stands out in my mind as a great illustration of Jesus.     

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…. The LORD Almighty is with us.”
(Psalm 46)

The Large Stones of Life

In the Easter story all four gospels mention the large stone that covered the entrance to the tomb. Mary and the women wondered how they would move it to anoint the body of the Lord, but when they arrived, they found that the stone had been rolled away.

Not only so, but his body was gone and angels asked, why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!

The heavy stone of death or of any other obstacle or hard thing that stands between us and the eternal GOD of resurrection power is forced to flee before Him who is the ROCK, the ALMIGHTY CREATOR GOD.

Do you have issues and concerns? Do you have overwhelming needs that you can’t bear and don’t know how to solve? Bring them to the Lord and ask for his guidance for NOTHING can subdue or overthrow him. Nothing is too heavy for him to remove or too powerful to stay his hand. He is God!

Don’t let any heavy weight overthrow your faith or obstruct your path to finding the true rock and anchor that will sustain you for all eternity.  

There is no greater power, no higher authority on which to stand, and NO other God than JESUS CHRIST who rolled away the stone and became an immovable ROCK for us. To Him belongs all the glory forever and ever, amen!
Jesus is risen! Happy Easter!








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