Built on a Rock

 
By Cole McCormick
Interim pastor at Grace Lutheran Church
From the words of Psalm 91:16, “Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot. Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.”
Over the summer I had a fishing outing with another gentleman. I was so looking forward to catching a fish or two, but we ended up catching a bunch of weeds instead. However, it was surely nice and relaxing to be out on the water and receiving a suntan.
On the edge of the water, very high up in some old trees, perched two eagles keeping watch.  Eagles simply have a way of soaring through the creation that God has so graciously and abundantly made. For me the eagles are one example of being brought up. On the flip side, we also definitely do have times that we will fall, that we will stumble and that we will crash.
Recently I had dinner with some friends who have a young daughter. She is at the point where she is walking, bumping and crashing into everything. Many times she just stumbles, gets back up and does it all over again.
We also get brought down when it does not seem like God answers, with all the violence in the world and when a life is all of a sudden cut short.
As Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he had no answer.
Yet, during the falling is precisely when these promises enter in, to let us know and hear of the promises that God is our protector and dwelling place. We are brought down in order to be brought up.  We are dragged through the rubble of death that leads into life, and it is in this very darkness where the light of hope and life comes to be and being brought up in and through God. Amen.