The Bedrock Under My Feet

The Bedrock Under My Feet 

Psalm 18:1-2 " I love you, God—you make me strong. God is the bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight. My God—the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout.”

Psalm 18 was brought up twice in prayer group today. It was not these verses; however, when I started reading the whole chapter, I fell in love, especially with the beginning. I will take a few days to focus on this Psalm. I am not sure how many, but at the very least, today and Monday, as it is so beautiful! This verse starts with, “I love you, God—you make me strong,” what a great opener. We can’t tell God enough how much we love Him. I don’t think He ever gets tired of hearing it from us. Also, what a great thing to remember. God is our strength. It doesn’t matter what kind of strength we need; it can be found in the Lord.

Next, it says that God is the bedrock under my feet. Bedrock is the solid rock underneath loose rock or soil. We may have other things that we rely on before God. There might be various ways that we try to protect ourselves; these things would be loose rock or soil. Maybe they work for a bit, but eventually, you will slip, or you fall on that loose grave. Underneath it all is our real protection. God is the solid rock that we stand on. With God as our bedrock, we can rest assured that our footing is solid and we will not fall.

It also says that God is the castle in which I live. God is a safe place for us to not only rest but for us to live. He is not just a stopping point, like a safe bench to sit on. We can live in his safety and security. It is always around us, just like the walls of a castle. If we are in a castle, we are surrounded by walls of stone so thick that we are safe from the enemy. The Lord protects us from all our enemies. We just have to live with Him. We just have to let Him surround us with His walls of protection. We just have to ask Him.

Next, it says God is our rescuing knight. How many times have you seen this in your own life? When we are struggling, God comes in and rescues us. He loves us that much. He doesn’t always come in right when we want Him to, and He doesn’t always save us in the way we want Him to. This is because He is so much smarter than we are. It is also because He sees the whole picture, and He thinks way bigger than we do. We definitely think our idea is the best idea. But what if what we are thinking is way smaller than what God is thinking? What if He has much bigger plans for us, but they require us to trust Him in these first few steps because we are not ready for the amazing life He has planned for us? We are still growing. We are still learning. If He had just plopped us into this new amazing life, we wouldn’t have been ready for it, and we might have ruined it. God knows what He is doing.

The last line in this verse says, “My God—the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout.” This is another way to show us how safe we are with the Lord. We can run to Him with anything, yes, even if our lives are in danger. This means when we are sick, when we are scared, when we are in danger. We can run to Him, and He will be there for us. He will ALWAYS be there for us, which makes me wonder why we don’t go to Him more often. Why don’t we run to Him at the first sign of trouble? Why don’t we hide behind His bolder and stay safe in the granite hideout?

I received a word last night at prayer group, and then at the end, we had a bit of a discussion about it. What my friend said might be the same reason we don’t always run to Him. The words I received were, “I want to be close to you, but you are keeping me at a safe distance. You are keeping me at an arm’s length away from you. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of me seeing? Open it up to me. Let me in.” After the meeting, my friend said she thinks she is afraid of rejection. She is afraid if she lets the Lord into the innermost parts of herself, He won’t like what He sees.

She knows this is not true in her mind but is having trouble convincing her heart of it. She said she felt like she heard the Lord ask her, in a very gentle and loving voice, “Why would I reject you? I made you. I made every part of you. I have loved you since before you were born. I would never reject you.” Sometimes we feel like we want to hide things from the Lord. I don’t think my friend is the only one who fears rejection. We wonder what it would be like if God knew the REAL us. The one we don’t let anyone see. What if He knew the ugly thoughts we have sometimes? What if He knew about those things we did when we were younger? What if he knew the demons I was still struggling with? What if…

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but He already knows. He knows everything about you. Every thought you have, every single thing you have ever done, and yet He loves you anyway. He loves you just as you are. He wants to love and protect you just as you are. You don’t have to clean yourself up first. You don’t have to be perfect or have all the right answers. He loves you because He is your Dad, and He created you. He knows all the things you don’t like about yourself, and He thinks you are wrong; he loves those parts of you. He thinks you are handsome and beautiful and loves you with an unconditional, unending love that we can’t even comprehend.

Take a moment to think of the thing that you love most in the world. The thing you can’t live without. The thing that you would sacrifice all other things for. If you had to put a number on how much you loved that thing, what would that number be? Now take that number and multiply it by a million, and you wouldn’t even be close to how much God loves you. His love is overflowing for us. So, let’s take some time today in silence and answer God’s question. Let’s have a conversation with Him about “What are we afraid of?” Why aren’t we coming closer? Why aren’t we turning to Him at the first sign of trouble? Why aren’t we living in His safe castle?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to come close; please help us. Lord, we want to trust you and to let you into the secret places of our hearts; please help us. Show us what we are afraid of, and then help us overcome that fear. We don’t want anything preventing us from coming closer, Lord! We love you so much! You are the Best! Thank you for your love and your protection. Please open our hearts and soften our hearts so we can accept them both. We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I would like to ask you to keep me in your prayers this weekend. I am traveling to Orlando, and I pray I can get to and from safely and without catching the cold everyone seems to have right now. Also, prayers for Tony as he holds down the fort while I am gone. I look forward to meeting you back here on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

The Word of the Lord for today is, “I want to be close to you, but you are keeping me at a safe distance. You are keeping me at an arm’s length away from you. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of me seeing? Open it up to me. Let me in.”

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace