Rocky Road Devotions: A Fortress Like No Other

Friday, January 22, 202 1

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:5-8

· Note – often, when writing these devotionals, I check back to see what I’ve written before on the same text, so I can list other posts on the same Scripture. ^{(Hint: check the footnotes)}. This morning the check-back proved painfully fruitful. Here’s what I wrote in October 2019 about Waiting in a Small Place:

When alone, particularly early in the morning as this moment can attest, I think of the life I’ve lived, and those small places that I return to…

· stubborn, not submitted to Christ’s changing power

· willful, hardly obedient, except if it can be seen by others

· selfish, less than generous, except if it can be seen by others

· fearful, not depending on the Rock of Jesus’ saving power

· wavering, looking for a way out that I can see instead of faith-walking

· wobbly-kneed, untrue, and crabby…hardly a tower of graciousness.

Before I begin a day, I must always cover this ground in my prayers. Like David, I know myself too well to imagine I’ll be just fine without God’s constant hand leading, and His Spirit forming me from the inside-out.

Now, what I wrote a year ago was true about Russell (and perhaps you as well). And it was true about King David when he wrote Psalm 62 three-thousand years ago. Truth doesn’t change, especially about human nature’s fragility. Honestly most human beings spend more time than not in small places, inside our bubble, either denying vulnerability, or, perhaps, planning how to achieve safety in a scary world.

King David knew both vulnerability and the false feeling of invincibility. He began life as a sheep-tender, spending much time alone in the wilderness. He spent some time in the company of a madman (King Saul), the object of a paranoid schizophrenic’s fear of losing his throne. David also had to live with his sins, adultery, conspiracy, and murder of an innocent man. As king, David was the most powerful man on earth at the time. However, when he was alone with his thoughts, all David’s strength paled by comparison to the righteous, omnipotent power of Jehovah-God. It’s easy (and right) to feel quite small at such times.

And yet David could write about that God, Jehovah, as the very reason to feel safe, to know safe and secure; this God of David’s was a fortress like no other. And so the shepherd-turned-king could encourage his flock, Israel, to always trust God, and pour-out their hearts in prayer to Him.

No matter what kind of scale you use to measure the importance of political views and policies, this world has always been a scary place.

· It is scary for Republicans to see the Democrats control, and the reverse is also true.

· It was hard, as a young child, for me to hear about the Russians dropping a nuclear bomb on my head.

And when, at such times, I spend too much time inside my head, figuring out how I will survive, or what the government, or pandemics, or my own sins can do to unravel my life, it is time to stop that maddening process and run like a surprised jackrabbit to the fortress of my soul. It is time to practice what I preach, placing all my trust in God.

For You Today

What does your fortress look like? And, who built it?

King David assures us that if your fortress is any place, person, or thing other than Christ’s outstretched arms, you’ve built yourself a house on a foundation of sand. Better something built on the solid rock!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!