So this morning when the Lord led me to Psalm 18, I responded like someone who's just been given a gift of rare gold, because it is rare gold. Savoring it slowly, I had only reached verse two when I caught a glimpse of something exquisite:
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer
The Lord is my rock...
My rock. The margin notes also offer the translation crag, a lovely Scottish-sounding word that means a steep, rugged, upward-reaching rock formation. A sharply jagged mountain with protruding bits that a climber can grasp to keep from falling. What a perfect image of Christ and of the rocky climb known as the committed Christian life!
Long ago, crag also meant a rock that had broken away from the rest of the mountain -- another wonderful image of Christ, of His active intervention and of His utter uniqueness.
Either way, a rock or crag symbolizes a place of security in the midst of danger.
...my fortress...
He is my staunch defender -- a high, heavily protected stone wall, guarding me from danger. We have no idea what goes on behind the scenes in His protection of us. If we caught even a glimpse of how fiercely He guards us daily from His enemy, our enemy, our perspective would be transformed forever.
And yet, He is also
...my deliverer.
If His promises of security meant being sealed off from threats and danger, He would have nothing to deliver us from. No, He allows our feet to come uncomfortably close to slipping; sometimes He even allows us to be surrounded by extreme danger. Yet these times are not random. He uses them to draw us very close to Him -- to test us, to stretch us, to teach us, to correct us, and (perhaps sweetest of all) to reveal to us His perfect faithfulness.
He is our place of security and steadiness, our defender and protector, and our deliverer. This is also a picture of the "real" Christian life. Not the "christian" life, on the sidelines, but the committed life. Often moving from safety to danger and then back to safety, but each time -- if we cling to Him in worship -- He teaches us of Himself and molds us to resemble Him more closely. This is a core part of the deliverance, much more important in spiritual terms than the eventual rescue we seek.
This three-fold reality is not only a process, it is a constant! In the midst of everything, even if rescue seems impossible or far away, the Lord is our golden crag, our jewel-encrusted fortress, our unfailing champion.
I love You, O Lord, my strength! (Psalm 18:1) Mighty God, You are my hero. Not because You make life easy -- You rarely do! -- but because You offer me Your very self to cling to as I climb this jagged mountain.