Wednesday 10 December 2025

Psalm 145

Background
The image of the rock is an ambivalent one – ships get wrecked on rocks, we stumble over rocks, and a path might be strewn with rocks. But that certainly isn’t the whole picture. The Bible also presents a rock as a place of security, an unmovable place in a storm, a place where we may find shelter.

There is a large rock in Burrington Combe, a gorge in the Mendip Hills, where the hymn writer the Revd Augustus Toplady is reputed to have sheltered from a storm and from which he drew inspiration for his hymn 'Rock of Ages, cleft for me...’ This story is disputed, it has to be said, but it presents a vivid picture of how a physical truth may have a spiritual dimension.

Isaiah saw in his mind’s eye Jerusalem – a strongly fortified city, rock-like and high above the Judean countryside. Surrounded by high stone walls, it seemed impregnable, but Isaiah was aware that even a city such as Jerusalem may be taken by its enemies. The vision with which he encouraged the people is that of the 'city of God', a strong city to which the righteous may go and dwell together in peace.

In times when we, and many around us, may well feel threatened, whether by foreign powers or climate change, volatile money markets or the rapidly rising cost of living, it is easy to feel that things are beyond our control. We can feel helpless, and sometimes hopeless. We feel vulnerable. Where is that rock to which we may go and hide until it is all over?

This may be precisely the time to consider whether are ways in which we can make things more bearable for those around us. Am I, and are you, someone else’s rock, the one from whom others can gain courage and keep going through the storm?

To Ponder:

• Think of the rocks that have sheltered you from storms in life. Perhaps these were real places, but perhaps they were places in your heart and mind, or indeed they may be people. Take time to give thanks for them – and find an opportunity to express that thanks to those who have supported you.

Prayer
Loving God, in our times of worry and stress, may we go to that rock which is higher than we are, and find in that place peace of body, mind and spirit – for in you we put our trust. Amen.

Bible notes author: Gillian Kingston
Gillian Kingston is a local preacher on the North Tipperary Circuit of the Methodist Church in Ireland and an ex-Vice President of the World Methodist Council. She was the first Lay Leader of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Married to Tom, a retired Methodist minister, and with four adult children, she is also the besotted grandmother of seven beautiful granddaughters and one handsome grandson.