Tuesday August 30, 2022

 

When I saw it, I knew that it could make an exceptional photo. But, would I be able to capture it well enough with just the camera on my cell-phone and with my limited photographic abilities? That was the challenge …

I think I managed it: a long green spike of grass sprinkled with raindrops.

I like how the picture turned out so clear and vivid – I like how all the raindrops in all their different sizes are scattered over the entire leaf – I like how they all shine and how they reflect the daylight.

 

Looking at the image more closely, I saw that each drop reflected not only the sun, but something else. But what was it? I decided to enlarge one of the drops so I could see it more precisely; and when I did, I saw something big and dark surrounded by delicate sprigs of grass reflected inside it.

 

I continued to enlarge the raindrop, and finally I could see and understand what the bulky black “something” was. I was looking at the image of a huge, strong and solid rock.

 

It really was beautiful! And not just the photo I took, but all the thoughts that came into my mind and my heart when I saw it more closely and exactly …

 

Many years ago now, I was at Los Viñedos Hotel in La Union, Valle in Colombia. The hotel is situated on a hill in the middle of a valley of fields cultivated with grapes and other fruit. Together with my family and a group of friends, we had decided to go for a walk and climb up to the highest point on the hill. Up there, on a large plateau covered with grass and bushes and a few small trees, and from where the view was most impressive and magnificent, we found a rock. One immensely huge, solid, strong, immovable and solitary rock.

 

And I thought of God. And I remembered the words from Psalm 18:31 that read: “For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?”

We found just one rock on the plateau on the hill above the hotel. And there is only one Rock for every human being in this world: the LORD God, the only true Rock there is, the only Rock that is necessary. Only He is the huge, solid, strong and immovable Rock that we need and, possibly without our even knowing it, that we long for.

 

When we feel small in the face of all that life brings our way and hands over to us, God is the Rock who is bigger than we are and who can shelter and protect us. “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” ~Psalm 61:2

 

When we feel weak and fragile, downcast and faint-hearted, God is the solid and strong Rock that can sustain us and lift us up and strengthen us. “Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.” ~Psalm 71:3

 

When everything around us seems to be trembling and shaking, when we feel like we no longer have solid ground beneath our feet, or a peaceful and sure life in our days, God is the immovable Rock that never changes. ~Malachi 3:6 and ~James 1:17 “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. ~Psalm 62:1,2

 

In the New Testament, it is Jesus Christ who is spoken of as the Rock of our lives. 1 Peter 2:4 & 6 says that Christ is “the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him”, “a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

 

As I was reflecting on all this once again, my eyes and my mind went back to the picture that I took a while back: the reflection of a rock in a raindrop sitting on a long spike of green grass. And I thought: even in the most difficult storms of life, even when problems and struggles rain down on us the hardest, even when tears flow from our eyes and hearts – in every drop that falls from heaven or from our faces, Jesus Christ is and will always be there: our Rock, our precious living Cornerstone – there to be our refuge, our salvation, our strength.

 

Dear friend: are you enduring difficult days right now? do you feel small, weak and discouraged in the face of all the battles that you are fighting in your life? Make the decision today to see Jesus as the one and only true Rock that can shelter you, sustain you, encourage and empower you.

May you too be able to say together with King David who proclaimed these words more than 3000 years ago: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior…” ~2 Samuel 22:2 and 3

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