I |
WILL love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. (Psalm 18:1-3)
There is a narrow passage between the south of Spain and the north of Morocco that allows access into the western Mediterranean Sea that is labelled the ‘Straits of Gibraltar.’ Just to the northeast of this strait is a promontory on which exists a mighty rock – the Rock of Gibraltar, or Mountain of Tariq, named after its Arabian conqueror, Tariq ibn Ziyad.
For centuries, this mighty Rock has guarded the traffic both into, and out of, the Mediterranean. Having no earthly sources of waters, its water supply has been provided by the capture of the waters of the rains of Heaven and stored in rock caverns cut into the stone.
In some points, the Rock of Gibraltar is a much smaller type of that Rock which followed Israel in the Wilderness and remains the strong Rock and Fortress of the people of God. That Rock is likewise immovable and its waters are the Life-Waters streaming down from Heaven. Our relationship to that Mighty Rock determines whether we shall be admitted, or denied, entrance to the Paradise of God.
The Kingdom over which this Divine Rock stands sentinel is likewise immovable in nature: Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:28-29)
Just as the Rock of Gibraltar stands as a rock of defense for the Mediterranean, so does the Rock of our Salvation stand as our sure defense from the tumults and tides of world of wilderness dangers. Though we are frail and weak, in Him we cannot be moved: He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. (Psalm 62:6-7)
When we abide in Christ, we will act with the gracious favor of our Lord. We will be constant and unchanging in friendship and respect for others: A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. (Psalm 112:5-6)
Abiding in the Lord anchors us steadfastly in His love and constancy: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber . (Psalm 121:3)
God has ordained a place of stationary security for those who follow Him. Our Lord has gone to prepare a place for us that shall never be subject to the quakes and turbulence of our earthly habitation: Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning, (1 Chron 17:9)
These are just a few of the spiritually inherited characteristics of the devout Christian. The Christian need not wear his religion on his collar. His identity is revealed in his living sermon he delivers everyday in the way he or she conducts their lives, treat others, stand staunchly on the side of righteousness, and trade in the currency of Godly love.
I have heard some claim they have no religion – they only live by faith, they say. Either they do not know the meaning of religion, or they are missing the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Encyclopedia Britannica describes religion as Religion, human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine, or worthy of especial reverence. That is an incomplete definition. The better and more accurate definition is found in God’s Word: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
