“A Rock for ME?” – FBC Morning Light (4/10/2023)

Well, a good Monday morning to you. I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday, celebrating the resurrection of our

Lord from the tomb, and that today you're living in the light of his living, that he is alive.

Well, again, I hope you were blessed richly by your attending

God's house yesterday and reflecting on the resurrection. Today in our

Bible reading schedule, as we're getting off to a new week, we're reading in Joshua 11 and 12,

John 3, and the 71st Psalm. I could focus on John 3, there's a lot in John 3 to talk about, isn't there?

But I wanted to look at the 71st Psalm, because something struck me as I read the opening verses, and particularly verse 3.

Verse 3 is praying to the Lord, and the psalmist says,

Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually. You have given the commandment to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

You notice there's a statement of fact, a statement of reality. The believer says, you are my rock and my fortress.

And there's also a statement of petition. There's a prayer of petition. He says, be my strong refuge.

He's acknowledging that God is that rock, that fortress, that strong refuge, but then he appeals to the

Lord and prays to the Lord on the basis of that reality, and says, be my strong refuge.

In other words, he's counting on the reality, he's appealing to the reality of who

God is to him, a refuge, a place to whom he can go for deliverance, for protection.

In fact, earlier in verses 1 and 2, he says, In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be put to shame.

Deliver me in your righteousness and cause me to escape. He knows full well that the

Lord is a rock, the Lord is a fortress, the Lord is a strong refuge. And because of the reality, he can then pray for that reality to be experienced in his life.

But the portion of verse 3 that struck me as I read it, was the next line after he says, be my strong refuge.

Be my strong refuge to which I may resort continually.

To which I may resort continually. And the question struck me,

I may, but do I? Do I?

Do I resort to that strong refuge? Do I resort to my rock, to my fortress?

How many times have you been faced with some kind of temptation? The wicked one is working hard on you, and you're just trying to deal with it.

You try to fight it, you try to put the thing out of your mind, you try to get involved in something else, but you don't resort to your rock.

He is a strong refuge to whom I may resort continually, but do

I? I think the point is that if I don't resort to that strong refuge,

I will not know or experience the refuge that he is. I won't know the protection that he can afford, that he affords me and can give to me.

I think many times we get bowled over by the wicked one as he entices us, as he sends some kind of temptation our way, simply because we try to handle it on our own.

We try to deal with it ourselves, and we don't resort to our rock, we don't resort to our refuge.

When the wicked one comes calling, and he entices you in some way, throws something across your path, somebody arouses your anger or whatever and you want to lash out, do you just try to fight it on your own, or do you go to your rock and say,

Oh Lord, in you I put my trust, in you I put my trust.

Let me never be put to shame by yielding to this wretchedness that the wicked one's throwing my way.

Let me never be put to shame. Oh Lord, deliver me in your righteousness and cause me to escape.

You are my strong refuge. Be that strong refuge to me to whom

I am now resorting and to whom I may resort continually.

That's a good question for us, isn't it? I've looked in my own life and thought about that, how many times have

I erred, blown it, or whatever, because I just tried to handle it myself and didn't resort to my rock, to my fortress, to my strong refuge.

Well, I hope that encourages us to do so. And so our Father and our God this morning, you who are a strong refuge for us, our fortress, to whom we can resort continually, forgive us for the many, many, many times we don't and just try to handle everything on our own.

Oh Lord, keep in our minds who you are to us, to whom we will resort continually.

And this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, well listen,

I hope your week gets off to a great start, and may the Lord bless you. Good day.