On Christ the Solid Rock

Let's face it, our world is crumbling. Is it not? With all the earthquakes and tsunami's that are cracking our earth - I am finding a numbness about myself. What hope do these people have? How do I give hope to those in need? I see the images and hear the stories of Haiti and now Chile and I can't relate because I don't understand. Why all this suffering? What am I or you to do with all this information of other people suffering?

I know living in these days I am not blind to the suffering - I will or can not wish it away. There is true despair out there. What hope can we offer? I love the words of Chuck Smith when he said:

"Reality would bring me to despair if I didn't know the hope of Jesus Christ. Because I have a hope in Jesus Christ, I can face the reality of life, but still rejoice in the hope because I know that when He comes we are going to live in a world of peace."

Today I read Romans 5. When I read it I could tell how excited Paul was in this chapter. His tone changes and he can't wait to say what he says:

"We boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame (or 'disappoint us' in the NIV), because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (5:2b-5).

I feel if I just gave this verse to those who were suffering it would only be a spiritual band-aid to them. It would only cover up the cut temporarily and then what? How do we help others have the hope we do? First of all, do we believe in the hope that we have in Christ Jesus? And that is where I am stuck at. I desperately need to believe that if I were faced with true suffering, I would stick to my hope in Jesus and not waiver. Do you believe this too? I told the kids at my youth group today that the Bible is a book of HOPE. It is a book we can trust through-and-through to give us light in dark places. But it is also a book that tells us that we who believe and follow Jesus will also endure hard times, we will suffer. Maybe not like other people in the world (i.e. visit persecution.com to find out) but we will suffer. Jesus tells us this in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. We are to be blessed when we suffer for the sake of His Name. Sometimes in this world - it seems we are made to suffer. Doesn't it? I think of Joey Belville's lyrics:

"Isn't this world something beautiful

that we were made to suffer both its majesty and cruelty?

And is grace not something beautiful that we were made to suffer?

the lucid touch of clemency

And our tears become a sanctuary

we are made to suffer

with tenderness and empathy"

I love how Joey answers his own question: with tenderness and empathy. That is quite biblical too. Paul tells the church at Corinth that God comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we receive from God (2 Cor. 1:4).

All I know is - that how I cope with all this suffering is a direct correlation with where my anchor is grounded. If I am anchored in my financial successes or my career or my relationships it is not going to help me through my sufferings or even that of others. What helps us cope is the Grace given and the simple fact that Jesus died and has risen and has rescued us already. In Him we have hope. We are not abandoned even though we are suffering (2 Cor 4:9). My hope cannot be built on any else than on Jesus' blood and his righteousness. Thus I think of this glorious song Solid Rock:

My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus' blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

but wholly lean on Jesus' name

When darkness veils his lovely face

I rest on his unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

my anchor holds within the veil

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

His oath, this covenant, his blood

supports me in the whelming flood

When all around my soul gives way

He then is all my hope and stay

When he shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in him be found

Dressed in his righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the throne.

Are these not the perfect words for today? Read them over and over again. Download the song and listen to it today. Meditate on the fact that it is only on Christ the solid rock we can stand - to get us through these days...