Bolted into the Rock
When Claudia finished her sewing challenge for school girls in Zambia, I told her we needed to get out of Dodge for a bit. So, after teaching class Sunday at church, we skipped the service, bolted for the car and pointed it south, feeling like kids on the first day of summer vacation. After dropping her 99 purses off at the Sew Powerful office in Yuba City, we made the trek to Yosemite National Park. She had never been there and I not since high school.
We’ve all seen pictures of Yosemite Valley and the monuments that seem to say to each other, “I can top that!” We hiked and gawked and stood slack-jawed at how God was just showing off. The two days flew by.
Late on the second day, with weather coming in fast, I pulled the car off the road at the base of El Capitan, the giant monolith that dominates one end of the valley. The topography is such that the valley floor is narrow at this point so El Cap seems to jump right up and tower over everything below as it soars 3,000’ above the valley. Claudia dug out the binoculars and we took turns scouring the rock, oblivious to the growing storm.
Finally, we spotted a tiny red tent about a third of the way up the face, hunkering down as the rain and wind picked up. Then she saw another one further up, this time yellow, and people below scrambling up to the safety of the ledge. A third tent, way way up on what seemed like a sheer face, clung to the rock. Bolted into the stone, these three groups, and probably several others we missed, planned to ride out the storm that promised to rampage for much of the night, and trust in the rock to hold them secure.
At the end of Deuteronomy in the Older Testament, Moses is dying. He commissions Joshua as the new leader, will bless each of the 12 tribes in turn, and die before crossing over into the Promised Land. Before the blessings, the Song of Moses is recorded. In this poem, Moses praises God for his faithfulness and exposes the faults of the Israelites, and the promise of ultimate redemption. Check out Deut. 32:3,4.
I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Consider our God as Rock.
Immovable
Stable
Secure
Like El Capitan, our God dwarfs everything around him. No storm threatens his place. He stands apart. He is wholly other. He can appear cold and intimidating from a distance, El Cap-like.
But he invites all to come near. God himself protects those who come and cling to him. Like climbers, our lives are exposed to all the elements of life, but bolted into him, inside our little tent against his massive flank, we are safe and can find rest enough for the next part of our climb. And we have no choice but to keep climbing and resting, trusting our small pins will be held by our Rock for the next pitch.
Psalm 18 underlines this idea.
God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?
Think of what’s behind this line. Everyone will come to times when we need a shield, cry out for protection, hope in promises. David sings his trust in God as he looks to the Rock that will not crumble.
And Isaiah gets this same thought in his Ch.26.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is the eternal Rock.
Like pitons driven into the granite of El Capitan, we drive our thoughts and hopes and trust into the goodness of God. The payoff is perfect peace. Think about how precious is any moment of peace when in the midst of a personal storm. But what God offers is “perfect peace” as we look through our circumstance into the eyes of the One who made us, loved us, and died for us.
We are called to climb. That’s life.
He promises to hold. That’s God.
Storms will batter and bang against our little tents and the winds may sound as though your meager security will shred…but you can live through it all in perfect peace with a trusting heart driven deep into the Rock, who is our God.
Your today may be sunny and warm, but there will be a day when life looks like it could all come apart. Practice trusting today on easy climbing routes. Get used to the rhythms of grace as an apprentice of Jesus so when storms do come, trusting the Rock will be second-nature.
Let’s climb together!
Below is the yellow tent and climbers clinging to the wall. I zoomed in as much as I could with my phone. Couldn’t see it with just eyes.
Rain coming into the valley. Circle is near where we spotted a tent on the wall.
Music for the climb
JokesJokesJokes
The wedding day was fast approaching. Everything was ready, and nothing
could dampen Jennifer's excitement, not even her parents' nasty divorce.
Her mother Sheila finally found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the
best-dressed mother of the bride EVER!
A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn her new young stepmother,
Barbie, had purchased the same dress. She asked Barbie to exchange the
dress, but Barbie refused, "Absolutely not! I'm going to wear this dress.
I'll look like a million bucks in it!"
Jennifer told her mother, who graciously replied, "Never mind, dear. I'll
get another dress, after all it's YOUR special day, not ours."
Two weeks later, another dress was finally found. When they stopped for
lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "What are you going to do with the first
dress? Maybe you should return it. You don't have any place to wear it."
Sheila grinned and replied, "Of course, I do, dear. I'm wearing it to the
rehearsal dinner."
__________
Grown-up: "What do you want for your birthday this year?"
Kid: "I'd like a little brother."
Grown-up: "Oh my, that's a big wish! Why do you want a little brother?"
Kid: "Well, there's only so much I can blame on the dog."