Spiritual thoughts and other writings.
Category: Jesus
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Whether we realize it or not, sin is our greatest enemy. Every pain, heartache, and hardship we face is the consequence of our or someone else’s sin. Jesus Christ came and died to free us from it. Praise His name!
I’ve been listening a lot to an album I bought a couples years back, Hymns Ancient and Modern, from the Passion people.
I was in the car driving the other day, and this track came on. I’ve heard it many times—maybe hundreds—but have never really stopped to listen to the lyrics. This time, however, I did and was really blessed by them.
The hymn is called The Solid Rock:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.When darkness seems to hide His 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, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.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.On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Simply put, it’s so easy to put my trust in things besides Christ—in friends/relationships, in success, in achievement, in being respected, etc. All those things, though, at some point fail and I’m left back where I started. Only when I trust in Christ am I trusting in something solid. As the hymn says, all other ground is sinking sand.
“5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.”
Let me just say that I love this passage. For me, so much of the time, I find myself really fighting to find joy in the Lord and rest in Him. It is always because I forget who God is, I forget who I am, and I forget, therefore, what my fitting response to these truths should be. This verse concisely points me toward the truth regarding those three areas.
1.) About God: Verse 5 reminds me that God is gracious: He shows me favor when I don’t deserve it; that God is righteous: He’s not going to harm me or try to abuse me somehow; and that God is merciful: He spares me the punishment that I deserve for falling short of his standard (Romans 3:22-24).
2.) About me: Verse 6 reminds me that God has preserved me and that he saved me. I know that I am not right on my own apart from Jesus Christ. This reminder is helpful for when I’m feeling proud or when I think I have it together. God saved me and I am therefore indebted to him–but it’s debt of gratitude. I can’t every begin, even, to pay it back.
3.) Response: The last verse is so beautiful to me because it shows us the fitting response to these truths. By nature I am a person who worries, so that makes this is even more helpful for me. This verse clearly reminds us to stop and rest in the Lord because he has shown us so much favor that we don’t have anything left to be concerned with. He has dealt very bountifully with me! The salvation of my soul, of course, being the most generous gift He could have ever given, but that’s really only the beginning of the blessings He’s shown.
Love the Lord today!
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