The Overwhelming Importance of Christians Understanding that the Best Place of Refuge is in the Arms of Almighty God; the Rock of Ages!

25 Jan 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Isaiah 26:4.        Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH (Yahweh) is everlasting strength (the Rock of Ages).

It’s Sunday my people; cold and windy, with much snow expected today. And it’s been falling in my area since around 8:15 when I went out to go to church…and it’s still falling. Reputedly some 5to 8 centimetres have already graced the Greater Toronto Area and its neighbouring communities. So, let’s hope you are blessed enough to get to the Lord’s sanctuary today for fellowship and worship before becoming snowbound. (smile)  And this morning, our song of worship is a wonderful old hymn written by the Reverend Augustus Toplady in 1763, but first published in 1775. The song is aptly titled ‘Rock Of Ages Cleft For Me,’  and deals with the intriguing subject of finding refuge. 

Now there’s a legend associated with this hymn; namely that the Reverend Toplady was inspired to write this hymn after finding shelter from a thunderstorm in a cleft in a rock at Burrington Combe in Somerset England. And although there’s no evidence to support the story, according to the website hymnary.org, ‘it does provide a vivid image through which to understand the hymn. Christ and His redemptive work on the cross are like that cleft in the rock, where we can find shelter from the deluge of sin’s guilt and power.’ 

And since we now have some basic background to hymn, let’s raise our voices in sweet sacrifices of praise, in a soulful, mid-tempo heartfelt rendition, letting all and sundry know that we truly mean what we’re singing. Altogether: ‘Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save me from its guilt and power. Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All could never sin erase, Thou must save, and save by grace. 

Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath, When mine eyes shall close in death, When I soar to worlds unknown, See Thee on Thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee… Let me hide myself in Thee… Let me hide myself in Thee…’ 

Oh friends what a wonderful rendition! I’m sure that no one who heard it doubted our sincerity. And before we get into the meat of the subject, let’s get a definition of ‘cleft,’ from this commentary. “Cleft” is a form of the verb “cleave,” which means to split or divide. So, the Rock of Ages, which is “cleft for me” is a split or divided rock that we can hide in. The author of the hymn was referring to Christ, our Rock of Ages, whose side was “cleft” by the Roman spear as he hung from the cross.’ 

And it does remind us of two great men of God who found themselves in clefts of rock. The first was Moses hiding in the cleft of a rock on Mount Sinai (or Horeb), where God places him to protect him from the lethal intensity of His glory while passing by, allowing Moses to see only His back. That story you can find in Exodus 33:18-23. And I like how this commentary puts it re Moses’ predicament. ‘Betwixt rocks, God placed Moses in a crevice of safety. God’s holy face was far too dangerous for a fallen man to see; Moses’ life depended on the safe space between rocks, so that he could see the Lord passing by from His back. Like Moses, our fragility requires a cleft carved out for us by the Lord.’ 

And so it does my brethren! Then there was the prophet Elijah, who hides in a cave on Mount Horeb (Sinai) after fleeing from Jezebel, the wicked queen. While there, the Lord shows up and asks him what he’s doing there and he basically says that he was scared for his life, as all the other prophets had been killed.  And with Elijah thus lodged in this “cleft” or cave; the Lord passes by first in a powerful wind, then an earthquake, and fire, but He was not in any of them. Then finally Elijah hears the voice of God in a “gentle whisper” or “still small voice” directing his next move. That story you can find in 1 Kings 19. 

Now let’s look at some other scriptures that correlate to our hymn. The phrase ‘Rock of Ages,’ is a metaphor for God that’s been used throughout the Bible. One example is Moses in his song writing; ‘He is the Rock (of Ages), his work is perfect: for all his way are judgement: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.’ (Deut. 32:4) Then we have Bruh David in Psalm 18 describing God thus: ‘The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength (rock), in whom I will trust; my buckler (shield), and the horn (strength) of my salvation, and my high tower (fortress).’ (Ps. 18:2) 

And the prophet Isaiah also wrote of God’s strength and place of refuge as follows. ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on (sustained by) thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH (Yahweh) is everlasting strength (the Rock of Ages).’ (Is. 26: 3-4) Yes friends, in the Lord God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ, there is always a place of refuge and comfort us. That’s why this commentary from the website Godtube is so reassuring. 

It says; ‘Even when we may feel like we’re alone, remember that God is always by our side and will never abandon us. He is truly our light in the dark and our rock that we can stand upon always. What an amazing feeling to be LOVED by such a kind Father and to give praise to His name with the beautiful hymn Rock of Ages.” Hearing the story behind the hymn made this classic song even more powerful. What a way to worship!’ 

And there’s no doubting that the song offers us a great way to sing God’s praises. So, let’s take a moment today and consider all that God has done for us, and then offer some of our own private praise and worship! Much LOVE!

…the best place of refuge…in the arms of Jehovah God…the Rock of Ages…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 January 2018 John 15:13.

11 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

John 15:13.   Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Oh precious people of Jehovah God, welcome to another wonderful day on His great earth! Oh I know some of us will complain and ask what’s so wonderful about the day when you are surrounded by numerous problems, adversity and calamity? But let me ask you this? Would you rather be asleep in the grave this morning? 

Most of you would readily answer a big ‘NO!’ That’s because you know that once you’re alive and in partnership with Almighty God there’s always hope for successfully handling your problems. And besides, regardless of how bad earthly life might be, most of us are just not ready for the heavenly one yet. (smile) 

That brings me to an interesting ad I saw on the television recently, it said: ‘Killing can be so complicated. Mary kills people.’ That’s an ad for a t.v show about Mary killing people. Hn! How much more macabre and insensitive can we get eh? When we advertise a show about killing people, what does that say about our society eh? What does it teach our children and those that come after us? 

But yuh know, if we had an ad that says: ‘LOVE is so simple. Jesus LOVES people!’ There’d be a big hue and cry over it. We might never ever get the ad to air in the first place, because the t.v. masters would consider it inappropriate. So killing is appropriate, but LOVE is not. 

Ah Lord eh! What a downward slide our society is on! I’m reminded of the quote I got from somewhere that tells us: ‘Two natures beat within my breast. The one is foul, the one is blessed. The one I LOVE, the one I hate. The one I feed will dominate.’ 

Obviously our society is feeding the foul nature, that of sin, darkness and carnality, because that’s the one that’s dominating our world right now. But friends, as we said earlier on, once we’re alive and in partnership with our Creator, there is hope to fix whatever is amiss or broken. 

And that’s exactly what we are planning to do in this Year of LOVE: fix the things that are broken in this broken world with the help of Almighty God! But friends, we can only do that if ALL believers in Jesus Christ come together and seriously work together to overthrow the evildoers in our world. 

If we stay divided and broken, as we are, we will be of little use, since the iniquity workers will just continue to divide and conquer us. We believers are supposed to be ambassadors of Christ, here on earth, but it’s obvious we’re not doing such a great job, if evil and hate and not LOVE and compassion are still ruling the world. 

And the sad part is that so many of us have this great talk and plan to do something about it, but unfortunately only a precious few are actually doing something about it. Talk’s cheap friends, but actions are expensive and involve sacrifice, which few of us really want to offer. 

But remember what Jesus did for us? He offered His sinless life as a sacrifice for our abominable sins! He didn’t have to do it, but He LOVED us so much, and wanted a better future for us that He gave the ultimate sacrifice; His godly life. 

As He said so passionately to His disciples in our Bit: ‘Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ And what did He do? He went out and laid down His life for us, because He considered us His friends, and wanted us to become His adopted family. 

Hear How He continues after our Bit. ‘Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.’ (John 15:14-15) 

That’s about the best description of friends you can get my brethren; sharing important stuff with others. Jesus told the disciples, and consequently us, all that the Father had told Him, which put them, and us, in a position to be His friends. But then what kind of friends are we, if we don’t do what our friend asks of us eh? 

Hear Jesus again. ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained (appointed) you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you. These things I command you, that ye LOVE one another.’ (John 15:16-17) 

Oh fellow believers, we didn’t choose Jesus, He chose each one of us to go out and bear good fruit in His name. That means we have a serious responsibility here on earth, per doing what He commands. And one of the first and foremost, and basic commands is to LOVE one another. 

Oh my people, let’s concentrate on just doing that nuh: just LOVING each other as Jesus desires and letting go of all the resentment and negative emotions and activity that currently resides in Christ’s body, the church.  You’d be surprised at how life would change if we just did that. And why should that be so hard to do when Jesus has already been so generous to us in our Thursday Blessings? 

Let’s declare them in loud voice and sincere spirit. ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! 

I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’ 

Now, our bounden duty, as faithful believers, is to go out and share those blessings with others. Much LOVE!

…Christianity is not a society for hoarding…but of generously sharing the wealth and good news of Jesus…