Isaiah: 26:4
“Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.”
Hunger had set in one afternoon while exploring the Eastern coastal region of England, so when we came upon a sign for the town of Cheddar, we decided to make the turn. Hoping we might get a traditional “Ploughman’s” lunch with local cheddar cheese, we stepped into the first pub we came to. After placing our order, we glanced at a clipping pinned to the wall by our table that related the story of how Augustus Montague Toplady, curate of Blagdon, wrote his beloved hymn, “Rock of Ages” in 1763. Here is the commonly accepted story of how the hymn came to be written:
“While walking along the road outside of Blagdon, near the village of Somerset, he was caught in a rapidly approaching thunderstorm, a loud, thundering storm with dangerous lightning. For a brief moment, the lightning showed his escape to safety. It was the rocky landscape of Burrington Combe, complete with crags, cliffs, and caves! Burrington Come climbs 250 feet toward the sky, with the Mendip Heights on one side, and Cheddar Gorge on the other. Anyone who has been caught out in a raging thunderstorm can easily picture the scene. He would have to act fast, as you can imagine the torrents of rain streaming down the cliff-sides. Quickly, he found a cave … in the cleft of the rock, and waited the storm out. Augustus knew he had been blessed to find such a hiding place so quickly. While waiting for the storm to pass, he could easily picture the rock being a shelter from the storms of life. He would scribble down the opening lines to the song, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee …”
There are times in our lives when we are caught unawares by rapidly approaching storms that seem to come out of nowhere: a sudden illness, death of a loved one, a natural disaster, a broken relationship, a runaway child, or the loss of a job. The pandemic the world has been dealing over the last year is a storm that approached so rapidly that we were all caught in the torrents.
Fear gripped families, adjustments had to be made in work, schooling, church attendance and shopping and the financial impact will take months if not years to recover from. For many of us, all we could do was to wait out the storm. But what comfort we have known that we could hide ourselves in the trustworthy strength of the Lord Jesus. Our Shelter, our Safety, our Rock.
Lord Jesus, thank you for reminding us that You are our Rock of Ages. We are also reminded of the terrible price You paid to save us from sin’s wrath. May we recognize that there is nothing we can do to make You save us. It is by faith alone. It is to You only we must cling, in helpless need, only to You we trust for saving grace. Whatever we face today, may we take refuge in You, our Rock of Ages, and hide ourselves in You. In Your name we pray. Amen.
