A Rock-Solid Faith!

A Rock-Solid Faith!

Ps. 125:1. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” These people are unshakable in their faith in God’s leading in all aspects of life. Despite what their feelings and reasoning tell them, they put their trust in the Lord. For this reason they also come to rest, because they know that God has only thoughts of a future and a hope in all the circumstances of life, and that they will not be tempted beyond what they are able.

They draw near to God, so that God draws near to them. They are humble under God’s mighty hand, because they know that all things work together for good to those who love God, because they know that this is what they need to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. Everything God does has been carefully weighed and measured, and it has one sole purpose: to prepare us for eternity, so that through suffering we may attain the glory of Jesus Christ—His virtues that have eternal value.

We understand very little of God’s thoughts; they are higher than our own. That is why it is absolutely essential to put our trust in the Lord and not in ourselves or our own clever thoughts. Ps. 18:1–2. “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” We truly need to nourish ourselves with the words of faith, which must be in our mouths and in our hearts. It is these words that pierce to the division of soul and spirit, between joints and marrow, and overcome all troubled thoughts, so that by God’s power we are upheld in faith because we have been begotten again to a living hope of transformation and divine nature.

Peter loved Jesus with all his heart, and when he saw Jesus walking toward him on the water, he jumped out of the boat to meet him. But when he saw the fierce storm, he was afraid and began to sink. “He cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” Matt. 14:28-33. As long as Peter believed and had a “connection” to Jesus, he walked on the water, but when he began to look at the waves and the storm, he began to sink because he began to doubt. This is an example for us, that we might be kept in a rock-solid faith, so that we do not sink into the waves—turmoil in feelings and reasoning—that rise up because there is a “storm.”

In Phil. 4:6-7, Paul exhorts us not to be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let our requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This gives us a rock-solid, unshakable faith that sustains us through all the circumstances of life. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Matt. 7:24-25.

Let us take it as Elias Aslaksen writes in song WotL 146, verse 3: “Wisdom so good from the Father of Spirits! All things He guides for my very best, I see. All that befalls me He turns and He causes to fit His plan of salvation for me . . . .”