Sinking in Life? Go to the Rock
Psalm 18:1-6 I will love You, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
so shall I be saved from my enemies.4 The pangs of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
Jonah is sinking to the bottom of the ocean, stuck in a fish, utilizing the imagery of a Psalm that compares God to a Rock. Psalm 42 utilizes the same imagery: I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (Psalm 42:9) It would appear from Jonah’s perspective that a Rock was the last thing he needed. But this Rock was no ordinary Rock. The Apostle Paul alludes to this Rock in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. The Rock followed them? The Rock gave water to those who were thirsty? Numbers 20:7-11 gives us some more insight: Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
This was the second time Moses had been invited by God to miraculously provide water from a rock. In the first account Moses struck the rock according to the Lord’s command. But in the second account he was commanded to speak to the rock. Jesus, the Rock, was broken in half to provide “water” for our forgiveness, and cleansing from sin. Yet, the second time, God provided the water of the Holy Spirit from Jesus’ side to reconcile us to Himself, as His Bride. The letter of the Law strikes the Rock, but the Spirit of the Word gives Life.
In this season of Elul – repentance, and seeking God, have you substituted the Rock of Jesus, with the rock of the commandments – the Law? Is the Spirit of the Rock yielding the Life-giving Water of the Spirit into the waters of life that seem to be drowning you, swallowing you whole? Do you find yourself crying out for the Rock to be your salvation from that which is drowning you? Are you praying with Jonah, Lord spit me out of this deathly existence?
