Stones

A slow reading of Psalm 95 bounced me back and forth through the story of God’s people; reminding me of stories of rocks and foundations, of stones and salvation. It doesn’t seem to want to sit squarely in one place. It speaks in turn of joy and sorrow, welcome and warning, gentleness and anger, forming and breaking. Still, a clear message does resonate through it all. It calls us to be in place. It reminds us of the faithfulness of God and where we belong. Perhaps the following lines will do the same for you:

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” (Exodus 17:6)

In a barren place, a stone was struck and salvation poured forth.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
(Psalm 95:1-3)

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
(Job 38:4-7)

Out of a Creator’s love for creation, a stone was struck and salvation poured forth.

In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
(Psalm 95:4-6)

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way; (Isaiah 53:6a)

Out of a shepherd’s love for his flock, a stone was struck and salvation poured forth.

for he is our God and we are the people of his
pasture, the flock under his care. (Psalm 95:7)

We said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to
make us and our children and livestock die of
thirst?”…. “Is the Lord among us or not?”
(Exodus 17:3b,7b)

Despite our questioning and quarreling, a stone was struck and salvation poured forth.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at
Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the
wilderness, where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation; I
said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared
on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’
(Psalm 95:7b-11)

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:5b)

Our hearts as stones are struck and salvation pours forth.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
(Psalm 95:1-3)