He Is Series Elohei Tzur Yishi- God, the Rock of Our Salvation When You Long for God’s Safety but Keep Him at a Distance

He Is Series Elohei Tzur Yishi- God, the Rock of Our Salvation When You Long for God’s Safety but Keep Him at a Distance Psalm 18:1-2 " I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Today, we are talking about Elohei Tzur Yishi—God, the Rock of Our Salvation. This verse starts with, “I love you, God—you make me strong,” what a great opener. We can’t tell God enough how much we love Him. I don’t think He ever gets tired of hearing it from us. Also, what a great thing to remember. God is our strength. It doesn’t matter what kind of strength we need; it can be found in the Lord. Next, it says that the Lord is my rock. We all know how solid Rock is. Some versions say He is the Bedrock under our feet. Bedrock is the solid rock underneath loose rock or soil. We rely on many other things before God. There might be various ways we try to protect ourselves; these are the loose rocks or soil in our lives. Maybe they work for a bit, but eventually, you will slip, or you will fall on that loose gravel. Underneath it all is our real protection. God is the solid rock that we stand on. With God as our bedrock, we can rest assured that our footing is solid and we will not fall. It also says that God is my fortress. God is a safe place for us to not only rest but also to live. He is not just a stopping point, like a safe bench to sit on. We can live in his safety and security. It is always around us, just like the walls of a fortress. If we are in a fortress, we are surrounded by walls of stone so thick that we are safe from the enemy. The Lord protects us from all our enemies. We just have to live with Him. We just have to let Him surround us with His walls of protection. We just have to ask Him. Next, it says God is my deliverer. How many times have you seen this in your own life? When we are struggling, God comes in and rescues us. He loves us that much. He doesn’t always come in right when we want Him to, and He doesn’t always save us in the way we want Him to. This is because He is so much smarter than we are. It is also because He sees the whole picture, and He thinks way bigger than we do. We believe our idea is the best. But what if what we are thinking is way smaller than what God is thinking? What if He has much bigger plans for us, but they require us to trust Him in these first few steps because we are not ready for the amazing life He has planned for us? We are still growing. We are still learning. If He had just plopped us into this new, amazing life, we wouldn’t have been ready for it, and we might have ruined it. God knows what He is doing. The last line in this verse says, “my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” This is another way to show us how safe we are with the Lord. We can run to Him with anything, yes, even if our lives are in danger. This means when we are sick, when we are scared, when we are in danger. We can run to Him, and He will be there for us. He will ALWAYS be there for us, which makes me wonder why we don’t go to Him more often. Why don’t we run to Him at the first sign of trouble? Why don’t we hide behind His Rock and stay safe behind His shield? I received a word at prayer group, and then at the end, we had a bit of a discussion about it. What my friend said might be why we don’t always run to Him. The word I received was, “I want to be close to you, but you are keeping me at a safe distance. You are keeping me at arm’s length away from you. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid I'll see? Open it up to me. Let me in.” After the meeting, my friend said she thinks she is afraid of rejection. She is afraid that if she lets the Lord into the innermost parts of herself, He won’t like what He sees. She knows this is not true in her mind, but is having trouble convincing her heart. She said she felt like she heard the Lord ask her, in a very gentle and loving voice, “Why would I reject you? I made you. I made every part of you. I have loved you since before you were born. I would never reject you.” Sometimes we feel like we want to hide things from the Lord. I don’t think my friend is the only one who fears rejection. We wonder what it would be like if God knew the REAL us. The one we don’t let anyone see. What if He knew the ugly thoughts we have sometimes? What if He knew about those things we did when we were younger? What if he knew the demons we are still struggling with? What if… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but He already knows. He knows everything about you. Every thought you have, every single thing you have ever done, and yet He loves you anyway. He loves you just as you are. He wants to love and protect you just as you are. You don’t have to clean yourself up first. You don’t have to be perfect or have all the ...