God is my rock and fortress

Listen to the words of David in Psalms 31:1-12


1 In you, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.


2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.


3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.


4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.


5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.


6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the LORD.


7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.


8 You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.


9 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.


10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.


11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends—those who see me on the street flee from me.


12 I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.


You talk about vulnerability.  David here is opening up his heart to us.


He was a man of faith, but few in Scripture suffered the setbacks that this anointed king did.


Perhaps that is why David provides us with so many glimpses of God's nature and character as revealed in His many titles, including - God is my Rock; God is my fortress.


It is out of suffering that David could point to God as a place of refuge.  That no matter what the trial, God is our fortress and we can pray with assurance, "You are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name's sake, lead me and guide me," in verse 3.


George MacDonald (in his book "Unspoken Sermons") once wrote, "That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow of aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to Him, 'Thou art my refuge."


Good stuff.


Throughout scriptures, God is identified as our "Rock".


He is the rock upon which the church is built (Matthew 16:18).


He is our "everlasting rock".  Isaiah 26:4


He is the "rock that is higher than I"  Psalms 61:2


He is that "spiritual Rock".  I Corinthians 10:4


He is the "rock of my salvation."  2 Samuel 22:47


Each one of these biblical references share some of the unique facts of our Rock, our God.


God shelters, gives foundation, provides a defense against the enemy, nourishes and protects during trials and troubles, and He assures a secure footing as we step into each new day.


With each of these ideas, the focus of the title "Rock" is that there is an exalted, elevated, out of reach location available to you and to me - to all of us who need to take refuge in the name of Jesus Christ.


Go back with me to verses 3,4 of Psalms 31.  He is our "rock of refuge."  The Hebrew words used are "metsoodaw" (fortress) and "maoz" (refuge).  They combine to describe the following:


"A place of escape or defense conveying the idea of a city that, should the enemy seek to overthrow it, he himself will be overthrown."  In this sense the words used by David in Psalms 31 carry the idea of a snare or a trap.


THINK OF THIS:  The traps that Satan places before you today will be turned by Christ into traps that will snare Satan himself!


Amen!


The word fortress (metsoodaw) brings to mind the famous natural fortress of Masada in Israel.


Masada was a towering natural fortress used by Herod the Great as a miltary outpost just before the time of Christ.


The fortress was built on a butte or mesa, which rises more than 1400 feet above above the level of the nearby Dead Sea.


It was here in 70 to 73 A.D. that Jewish zealots sustained a revolt against the Roman Empire.


And they resisted Rome three years longer than any other segment of their guerrilla forces simply because of the strength of their position in the Mesada.


Our strength, our hope, our help is in God, our Rock!


Martin Luther was one of the most influential leaders of the protestant reformation in the 14th century. This man who used of God in a great way also was given to times of deep dark depression.


One time he got really down and depressed and locked himself away in a room and wouldn’t come out for anything or anyone. His wife Kathy tried to coax him out of the room with no success. Finally she went and dressed with a black veil, and black gloves, totally decked out in black and went into the room with Martin Luther. Martin asked her, “dear Kathy, who died?”


She replied, “Why God died, Martin.” Martin jumped to his feet in an outburst of emotion and said, “that’s blasphemy woman how dare you talk like that?” To that she replied, “yes it is Martin, and so is the way you’re living.”


He got up out of the room and went and wrote the great gospel hymn “Our God is A Mighty Fortress”.


Let me leave you with one final thought.  We not only dwell in the Rock, but the Rock dwells in us. 


Remember Star Wars?  The "Force be with you"?


The "Fortress is within us"!


Be courageous this day - in knowing that you can not only live in the presence of God but that the presence of God lives in you.