Developing Skills in Leadership, Bible Knowledge,
and Christian Servanthood
THIS YEAR’S LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR CHRIST THEME
THE ROCK by Brian Simmons, Metro church of Christ, Gresham, OR.
We have an odd relationship with rocks. On one hand, rocks don’t get any respect. We step on
them or over them without a second thought. We kick them out of the way, or split them apart
with a jackhammer. If we run into one while digging, we’re frustrated. If children throw them,
they get into trouble. We even use them as an insult (“You have rocks in your head!”).
On the other hand, we’re impressed with rocks. The Rock of Gibraltar off the coast of Europe is the largest rock in the world, and to see it up close is awe-inspiring. So is Stone Mountain in Georgia. Millions of people have flocked to museums to see rocks brought back from the moon.
People pay top dollar for rocks compressed deep in the earth, tempered, and then later removed as diamonds.
And, if we admit it, sometimes we’re a little afraid of rocks. Who hasn’t hiked or driven past a
VERY large rock and briefly wondered if it might fall on us as we pass by? Who hasn’t been
impressed with the single rock from the shepherd’s sling that killed Goliath?
Yet you get a completely different picture of rocks in 2nd Samuel. In some of his last words to
God’s people, King David powerfully speaks of God, comparing Him to a rock. In 2nd Samuel
22:2-3 David declares, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.” In 2nd Samuel 22:32 he asks, “For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?” David’s praise to God soars as he exclaims, “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!”
Why does the man after God’s own heart compare the LORD to a rock? As he glanced around his world seeking words worthy to communicate who God is, David might have looked at one of the many large rocks lining the road leading up to Jerusalem and smiled, knowing that he had discovered just the perfect metaphor for God in his life. David’s experiences with God taught him some memorable lessons about the LORD. David saw first-hand how God could deliver him from any circumstance, whether it was the Ammonites or the Moabites. He benefited from the faithfulness of God’s promise-keeping. He knew better than anyone else that God could be trusted more than his allies, his friends and his own son, Absalom. He rested in God’s rock-solid comfort after his son’s death. And, as his life ended, David built an altar to God on a rock that would become the center of Israelite worship.
All of this raises the question: To what do you compare God? It’s certainly right to say that God is a lamp (2nd Samuel 22:29)…but lamps are easily put out. God is a shield (2nd Samuel
22:31)…but too often shields can be broken. Rocks don’t easily break. Rocks aren’t easily
moved. Rocks remain long after humans have lived and died. The ancients knew this and so do we. David points us to a God who is strong and reliable. He sings of a God who is as unmoving as the largest rocks. In days of economic distress and world tensions when change and uncertainty seem to close in on every side, 2nd Samuel offers a timely reminder that our God is a Rock, an object that is a part of our world, but is unyielding to it.
What better time than now to turn the hearts and minds of young people to The Rock?