Be My Rock When Life is Scary

BlogHope

Nov 20

When the 60^th Anniversary of D-Day was featured on TV I found myself wanting to watch the ceremonies and hear the stories of those brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy. I think I’m drawn to the history of WWII because my father served with the Royal Air Force during that war and told me many stories of those years. My father served in the jungles of Burma intercepting the signals of the Japanese until he and his team were airlifted out because the enemy was getting too close for comfort. After this, he and my mother came to England from India in a convoy of ships knowing that German submarines were looking to torpedo whatever they could find. In England, my mother stayed in London during the Blitz while my father was stationed in the north. The day after he found a room for them to stay in and my mother left London, the building she lived in was bombed. As you can see, I grew up very aware of what happened during those dark times and of God’s protection of my parents before I came to be! With these memories and emotions enveloping me, I found myself reading Psalm 71. Here are some of the verses that filled me with gratitude and praise:

v.3 Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go

v.5 You have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth

v.14 As for me, I will always have hope: I will praise you more and more

v.17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your

marvelous deeds

v.18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.

v.19 Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things!

Stop and meditate on these words for a moment. God is our rock, unmovable and unchanging. In a culture that is shifting before our very eyes, in the unwelcome or challenging changes happening in your own life, you can alwaysgo to Him to steady yourself emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. God is our hope. He knows where this world is headed, and where your personal world is going. Put your hope in God—trust him to give you the strength and wisdom to walk through whatever is before you. The Apostle Paul prayed: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Joy, hope, and peace are ours when we trust! God never leaves us. Whether we are young or old, God never stops wanting to teach us how good and glorious he is. He has done marvelous deeds that we read of in Scripture. What marvelous deeds he has done in your life? I see these deeds in protecting my parents during WWII, but I also see them in my own journey with him.