GO TO THE ROCK
Psalms 62:1,2 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation: he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
David was constantly under the threat of being killed by King Saul. David had done nothing wrong to deserve it, and even King Saul’s son Jonathan realized it. David had become popular with the people, because he had helped to kill so many of Israel’s enemies. Then there was to the aspect that Samuel the prophet had anointed David to be Israel’s king. It seemed that King Saul decided that although he didn’t want to be king at first, he now wanted to stay being king and he wanted his son Jonathan to follow him as king. So King Saul began a campaign to have David killed. The thing was God wanted David to be king someday, so now Saul was fighting David and God.
Yesterday I watched a program of actual footage of some soldiers in Afghanistan that were fighting for the United States Army. The sergeant had served in combat for some time and had seen many people die. Some were the enemy and I am sure some were in the U.S. military. The platoon he led had all new soldiers that were not used to combat stress and danger. As he led his men he commented how green they were and how many chances they took. Many times he had to warn them of the danger they were putting themselves into as well as the platoon. He even commented to himself as he walked along how he was weary of the constant stress and the very real reality that he and many of his men could die at any moment. Then he added he was ready to go home to his wife and children. For some war may be glamourous and at first seem to be exciting with all the adrenalin flowing through your body, but the the reality is that in combat also comes death and often lost limbs and mental illness.
David and his men would have liked to go home too, but the only way he could do that was to live in another country and that was not really home. He didn't want to be king or to kill King Saul. He just wanted to be with his family and have peace. But King Saul felt that as long as David lived, he nor his family could ever have peace. So the conflict raged on, day after day and year after year. Then one day it finally came to an end when King Saul and his sons were killed in battle. Only then it appeared that David and his men were safe.
A friend of mine that served in the military told me something interesting. He said, “Everyone believes in God when you are hunkered down in a fox hole and bullets are flying.” When death is standing in front of you and even knocking on your door, all of a sudden you are not so brave and arrogant about the thought of giving account of yourself to God. Even the Bible tells us that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. God has the power and authority to not only take our life, but to cast us into hell for all eternity.
While David knew very well the constant threat of death, he also knew where his true hope and strength was. David put all his faith and trust in the Lord to be there with and for him. David considered the Lord to be as a rock that would not be moved under him. He believed that in life or in death God was not going to forsake him, and nothing could cause the Lord to abandon him. While for most of us we never live in a day in and day out stress filled life of possible loss of life as David did and many others in combat zones, but we can have stress that can weigh us down mentally, emotionally, physically and at time spiritually. But as long as we stand on the Rock, Jesus Christ, we can count on victory. Nothing including Satan and the powers of darkness can take away our salvation through Jesus. What they didn’t give they can not take away. When we make our stand on and with Jesus, he will bring us unto what we have committed to him and that is the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with him. When we do this he will give us the peace that truly passes all understanding no matter what we may be going through.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you will always be there for us, and will never forsake us no matter what we may face. We love you Jesus.
