Psalm 144

I was blessed with a wonderful father and mother. Not that our family was without problems. My parents lost a child when I was less than two years old. Long before that horrible day, Dad was away for several years in Europe during World War II. Mom was trying to get by at home with two very young children. In their later years they had the struggles that come from trying to express their love to eleven surviving adult children. It was not always easy for them. But I must tell the truth that they were great people and wonderful parents.

Yet my mom and dad are not my rock. God is my rock. Though their faith was more quiet than mine, I know that God was their rock too. When Dad had Alzheimer's disease and mom was in a hospital having cancer surgery, though he kept on forgetting where we were and why we were there, he told me that the day my sister Mary died, he really learned that he was was not in charge of his own life. He knew that he needed a more sure rock than himself.

The Lord is a good refuge for the man who suddenly discovers his own weakness.

Why would God even care about measly little people like us? God determined before the world was even created that He would cleave to a people of His own choosing in love. We are His. He is ours. He calls us “beloved.” That is His choice.

Mom and Dad lived good long lives, but their time on earth was just a breath compared to eternity. I remember toward the end of mom's life that I was visiting her at my sister's house, and I went to church with her and dad and my sister. Mom was standing next to me while the liturgy was being read. She reached for my hand and held it tightly as if to say, “I know you go to a different church now, but I believe in what I am saying here.”

That's a great memory for me now, but the great God who we worship is even better than any memory. He is the God who still holds all things together by the Word of His power. That God cares for the four of us who were in that pew that day.

This God of eternity cares enough to hear the cry of His beloved, and to come quickly to our aid. He cares so much, that He sometimes gives us something different than we ask for, because He knows what is best. He will overthrow wicked oppressors. He will defend His beloved bride. But He will also use difficult days to produce character for eternity. That is His right as our Father. We can trust Him every day. Even today.

Not only can we trust Him, we can worship Him. Can you play an instrument? Can you sing? Take up the best of all themes and make melody to the Lord in the congregation of His people. Sing about the Redeemer who came from heaven to rescue His bride. Sing about the glory of His life and His death. Rejoice in the wonder of His resurrection. Believe again that you will be with Him forever. Remember that He is your rock. Every enemy will be defeated, and many who were once enemies will be reclaimed as new friends in Jesus.

May our sons and our daughters be part of the temple of the Lord in heaven. May we dwell together in the assurance that our rock, the Cornerstone of the temple of God, has rescued us forever. May we have the bounty of the fullness of life in a land beyond Alzheimer's Disease and cancer. And may all the Lord's people have no guilt, shame, uncleanness, or even embarrassment left in their hearts when they join hands together and say, “Amen!”