#DailyDevotion Jesus Is The Rock & Mountain Fortress In Times Of Need.
Psalm 94 20Can anyone on a throne of wickedness be Your partner, when he uses laws to do mischief? 21They band together to attack the life of the righteous and condemn innocent people to death.
Things have not changed in thousands of years apparently. Even when this was written people were using laws to do mischief. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it moral or ethical. Wicked people can even use moral and ethical laws in immoral and unethical ways. The psalmist here must be complaining about the king of Judah here though it could also be the king of Israel, maybe both. The prophets often complain about the abuses of the kings, princes, elders, and priests. Righteous and innocent people were being taken advantage of and only the LORD could be their ultimate rescue.
So which one are you going to be? Those who use laws to take advantage of others or those being taken advantage of? Surely none of us should be like those sitting on a throne of wickedness. When we find ourselves on the wrong end of the stick, then we should turn to the LORD our God for help and cry out to Him.
22But the LORD has been my Mountain Refuge, and my God is the Rock Who shelters me. He made their wickedness lash back on them, and for their evil He will wipe them out — Yes, the LORD our God will wipe them out.
The psalmist does just that; he calls upon the LORD. He calls upon Him who has been his Mountain Refuge and his Rock. Two names for God throughout the Psalms. The LORD proclaimed Himself the Rock in Deut. 32. David is the one who called upon the LORD as a Mountain Refuge, probably when he was hiding from King Saul when Saul was trying to kill him. It used of God mostly in the Psalms.
Jesus says in Matt. 7, 24“Anyone who hears and does what I say is like a man who had the sense to build his house on a rock. 25The rain poured down, the torrents came, the winds blew, and they beat against that house. But it didn’t go down, because its foundation was on the rock.” Paul says in 1 Cor. 10, “4and all drank the same water of the Spirit, because they drank from the spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ.” Jesus claims to be the Rock from Deuteronomy as He calls us to listen and do what He says. Paul makes it clear, Jesus is that Rock. He is the Rock the psalmist look to to shelter him. We then should look and cry out to Jesus as our Rock and Mountain fortress in times of distress. Jesus is the LORD our God we cry out to for help in time of need.
Maybe you’ve been in time of need a lot and don’t want to bother Him. Fear not! He does not grow tired or weary like mere men. He commands us to call upon Him, to trust in Him and never to stop calling upon Him. Such calling upon Him constantly shows we trust in Him as our God. It is better to call upon Him for help than to turn to created things and people who are mere dust. He may use such people and things to answer our prayers and to give help to us but He wants us to recognize He is the God who provides them.
Merciful God and Father, give us faith to listen and do as Jesus says and make Him our Rock. Give us Your Spirit that we may constantly call upon Him for help in every distress and trouble so He may receive the glory when our prayers are answered. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.