Read Isaiah 8:14 and 1 Peter 2:7-8
“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” (Psalm 40:2)
I have been challenged in looking deeper into these passages from both the Old and the New Testaments which depict Jesus as the “rock” that makes people stumble. Usually when God gives me a message it is one of giving comfort and hope. Here the prophet Isaiah tells us of the dire consequences if we fail to heed God’s warnings. After Peter tells of Jesus being a “precious stone” to those who believe, he uses Isaiah’s passage to emphasize that this same precious stone will bring those people who walk in disobedience to ruin.
In Michael Card’s song, “Scandalon” (which means stumbling block), he sings this truth of who Jesus is:
He will be the truth that will offend them one and all
A stone that makes men stumble
And a rock that makes them fall
Many will be broken so that He can make them whole
And many will be crushed and lose their own soul
For those who believe, we see Jesus as the precious “solid rock” on which we stand: the rock that cannot be shaken, cannot be moved. For those who do not believe, they will trip and stumble and ultimately fall over this precious stone never seeing its value, never to receive the hope and comfort to those who believe.
God’s Word is timeless and changeless. What a danger we face if we choose to look at only that which makes us feel good. The ploys of the “enemy of our souls” would have us take our eyes off of the Rock where our salvation is secure, and delightfully see us stumble and fall into hopelessness and despair.
Yet, we are not without hope. In Psalm 40, the psalmist reminds those who put their hope in Jesus that they will be lifted out of the pit and the mud and the mire and placed on the solid Rock!
DIG DEEPER:
- If Jesus is your changeless rock, how does that impact your relationship with Him?
- What was an aspect of following Jesus that at first was a “rock” you stumbled over? What changed about that for you?
written by Geri Koterman
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