Tag Archives: rock sculptures

Safe on top of a mighty Rock

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Psalms, Tuesday's Truth

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In times of trouble, you will protect me. You will hide me in your tent and keep me safe on top of a mighty rock (Psalm 27:5, CEV).

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Remic Rapids Park, Ottawa, ON, balanced rock sculptures by John Ceprano — photo by David Kitz

Reflection

This week’s I Love the Psalms theme is rock.

Here is an Encarta Dictionary definition for the word precarious. Precarious: 1. unsafe, dangerously unstable, unsteady, uncertain, or insecure. 2. not well founded, based on uncertain premises or unwarranted assumptions.

The rock sculptures of John Ceprano, as seen in the photo above, are a vivid picture of the word precarious. The rocks are delicately balanced. Setting them in these positions takes deft precision, incredible skill and a great deal of patience. On the evening when I took this photo, John was working on a new balanced sculpture. Three times it collapsed in a jumbled heap.

John’s rock sculptures remind me of this verse from the Psalms:

In times of trouble, you will protect me. You will hide me in your tent and keep me safe on top of a mighty rock (Psalm 27:5, CEV).

This verse seems like it contains a contradiction. On the one hand it says the LORD will hide and protect me in His tent. But within in that tent He will keep me safe on top of a mighty rock. It’s hard to hide on top of a rock.

There is nothing precarious about my life if it is hid in God—if it’s safe within His tent. There I can stand on top of my mighty Rock.

Response: LORD God, I’m thankful for the security I have in you. Troubles may come, but I am safe within you. Amen.

Your Turn: How do you view your salvation? Are you safe or precarious?

A Mighty Rock

11 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in Monday Meditation, Psalms

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You alone are God! Only you are a mighty rock (Psalm 18:31, CEV).

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Remic Rapids Park, Ottawa, ON, balanced rock sculptures by John Ceprano — photo by David Kitz

Reflection

This week’s I Love the Psalms theme is rock.

Repeatedly, throughout the Old Testament God is called a rock. God is a spirit. Why then would God be called a rock? Rock is solid; it’s substantial. A spirit has no substance—no physicality. How then can God be a rock? Nevertheless, today’s verse from the Psalms declares this to be so.

You alone are God! Only you are a mighty rock (Psalm 18:31, CEV).

David, the psalmist, is saying that despite the spiritual nature of God, for him God has substance. He is real. God is as solid and substantial as any rock on which David stood.

How real is God to you? Is he as real to you as the material world? Is He as real to you as your child, your brother or your spouse? Is He as fixed and eternal as the largest rock in the limited universe of your personal experience? That’s how real—how substantial God was to David.

Only when God becomes fully real to us can we say, “Only you are a mighty rock.”

Response: LORD God, become more real to me with each passing day. I want to experience the reality of your presence in my life. Give me faith that is rock solid. Amen.

Your Turn: How real is God to you? Is He more than an idea or a concept?