Solid Rock

I grew up in church. Whenever the doors were open, we were there. And, as the Apostle Paul said, “When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child;” This applied especially to the music in my church. I did not like the ‘boring’ hymns we sang. My mind wandered, I drew pictures on the bulletin; I was not ‘paying attention’. Or so I thought. Later in life I discovered that those ‘boring’ hymns had become a part of who I am; I discovered the words contain a rich theology. From time-to-time one of the hymns of old will pop into my head. For the past four days I have been hearing The Solid Rock, written by Edward Mote. I could only remember the first verse and refrain, so I looked it up. Verse Two captivated me:
When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
There have been days in my not too distant past when darkness seemed to hide His face. As my friend James and I discussed recently, faith is not real until it is tested: until moments occur when faith is required for your next breath. It is one thing to sing, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness,” when all is well. It is quite another when you’ve lost your home, your vehicle and your job; when you have no earthly assets, no bank accounts, no health insurance. This is the time when His Word is true or nothing is true. It is a time when I can join the saints of old and sing, with honesty and humility, “all other ground is sinking sand.”