Evil advancing in real-time. Intimidation, scapegoating, and finger-pointing. Parents, educators, and politicians at odds. Big tech acting as arbiters of speech. Gender, race, rights, and riots fighting for headlines and our head space. This is an extraordinary time to be alive. Tectonic plates are shifting right underneath our feet.
So, where we place our feet matters.
Years ago, a broken foundation I stood upon finally crumbled and it rocked me to my core, so I spent a year journaling every instance I could find – any evidence I could stick my flag into – of any strength God actually possessed to be a foundation in my life. I needed to know. I’d sung A Mighty Fortress is Our God and On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, but I’d been window shopping. It wasn’t a crisis of faith. It was a crisis of shallow faith.
The journalist in me went to work. I read, journaled, searched commentaries, looked up words in Hebrew. Every time I found an instance of God Himself described as a fortress, foundation, rock, tower, stronghold, defender, rescuer or refuge, I wrote it down and I noted the result.
Turns out, He’s strong enough to support my weight. But I had to shift it there. I had to learn to trust it. Only then did I stand. Only when I gave him both feet and my whole heart did those songs in church pack more than pretty lyrics and nice chord progressions.
Because He is my Defender, I am safe (Psalm 118:13-14). Because He is my Rock, I have dignity (Psalm 62:7). Because He is my fortress, I have direction (Psalm 31:3). I’ve got ninety-seven pages of notes like this and I needed every one of them. It’s scary work to move your feet after they’ve been balancing on unstable ground for so long. Some of you know what I’m talking about. Muscle memory sometimes wins.
But once you’ve planted your flag on the mighty fortress, on Christ the solid rock, the view is better. The oxygen is cleaner. Peace abounds. Hope emerges. Enemies can fling arrows and words, but they can’t rock you—not with the rock-fortress-tower-stronghold-defender-rescuer-God supporting you.
So, where are your feet? Do you sense a shift?
These are hard days. We long for defense, not defensiveness. For strong footing, not strong arming. For handholding, not finger-pointing. For evil to be overrun, not to overrun. Only one Deliverer can deliver those goods. He isn’t on our clock and His ways aren’t our ways, but His foundation is big enough to handle every ounce of this heartbreak and hysteria.
I’ve created a resource to take you on one week’s worth of the 97-page journey I went on. Grab it here. You’ll be glad you did.
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shieldand the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.
– 2 Samuel 22:3
I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not fear, I will help you.” – Isaiah 41:13
1 comment
Mary
Oh how our world needs this. How I need this reminder day in and day out. Thank you Jesus for putting this here for me.
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Oh how our world needs this. How I need this reminder day in and day out. Thank you Jesus for putting this here for me.