Psalm 62:2 & 6 - My Rock

At least fifteen times throughout the Psalms, David and others refer to God as their "rock."

Twice in Psalm 62, David says,
"God... alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken." (vv.2 & 6, NLT)

Of course, God is described as "a rock" because He is unshakeable, immovable, and reliable. We refer to people that way; it's how I felt about my dad. He was a rock for our family because he knew who his own Rock was, even living through World War II, the Cold War, leaving a job he enjoyed, starting a second career... and much more.

My parents lived in Western North Carolina for over thirty years, and our family took up backpacking and hiking. Hiking in the Smoky Mountains means a lot of time spent in forests, with an occasional vista from atop a rock outcropping to see the hills and valleys you've traversed or will yet cross.

A favorite hike near their home was the Big Glassy Trail, on Little Glassy Mountain. The property used to belong to a family my parents knew, but it had been sold to Carl Sandburg and eventually passed on to the National Park Service.

At the top of the trail is a rock outcropping that overlooks trees and hills surrounding nearby Hendersonville. The rock has had several owners. Seedlings have sprouted around the rock, grown to trees... only to die and return to dirt. Visitors have arrived, visitors have left. After millennia, the rock is still there.

Of all his paintings, only one hung above my dad's bed. It portrayed my younger brother sitting atop Little Glassy Mountain. He used brushes to paint clouds and pine needles--but a palette knife to convey the craggy outcropping: a rock, unshakeable and immovable.

How many changes have swirled around you in your lifetime? In just the past two years? And so...

"I pray to you, O Lord, my rock. Do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you are silent, I might as well give up and die. * "Turn your ear to listen to me; rescue me quickly. Be my rock of protection, a fortress where I will be safe. * You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger." (Psalm 28:1; 31:2–3, NLT)