Feed me the Rock

Standing on the rocks in the Smokey Mountains

Have you ever tasted bits of rock during your chow down of those farm fresh veggies? When garden food comes from the dusty ground it’s bound to happen. I had that happen with my beets one time. It doesn’t feel good to the teeth. Which leads me to how this post was born. During one of my morning feedings for my Mastiff puppy I made the wrong decision to take the entire five gallon bucket of food out with me. So I walk to the backyard and put the bucket down on the patio. In an instant this lip smacking, tongue wagging brute knocks over the blasted bucket with his big nose and all the kibble lands in the rocks. I thought of the most colorful curse words that would rival the brightest rainbow you ever saw. So I went with the one word that rhymes with spit. For fifteen minutes I was like a cave man ravaging through the rocks trying to separate the puppy food. This puppy on the patio revelation would hit me like a rock.

Jesus is the Rock!

Let me flashback before this patio revelation took place. In the weeks leading up to my mishap I had what you could call a Holy Spirit itch to start writing again. The word rock kept coming up in my mind. The content I wasn’t sure about but I was listening. Then I started to think what it meant to trust God as my solid foundation? At this point that’s when I got hit over my hard head with the puppy on the patio revelation. I knew there was a purpose for this lesson and it had to do with having patience and the right perspective of my own calling in life. I had something to say and it was time to write about it. Over the last few months I had become acutely aware of the content that I and my family digest. My two year old boy is a super sponge on steroids and his hawklike alertness astonishes me . So yes I will continue to stand guard at the gateway to his innocent busy brain.

A Feeding Frenzy

There is a feeding frenzy taking place on this weary planet and this ravenous appetite that we see will never be satisfied. Priorities for so many seem to be dropping away like rotten fruit from a dying plum tree. It’s hard to miss. Just turn on the news or your latest song and listen to what’s on the menu. Greed and gluttony have taken over for an ominous main course of power, fame, fortune sex and influence.There is a taste and a wonting in the world for every dark pleasure under the setting sun. My younger years serve as a reminder of how my womanizing ways kept me blind to the truth of needing to build on a firm foundation. I was losing the fight against the feelings of being famished in my own personal world. I was standing on a monument to myself with selfish desires that left me sinking in my own insecurities. There was an inner turmoil in my life that was brewing. That was alarming to say the least. In college I had a professor who stated that everybody had a demon and not all suffered from the same temptations. Some had a power demon, others had an angry demon. Sex demons, money demons, smart demons, dumb demons and well you get it. What would it take to defeat my own demon? Maybe i had more than one?

“Fishing with a broken net”

As a boy I use to go fishing a lot with the family and somedays we would come back home with nothing but dirty cloths and muddy shoes. Maybe it was the fishing poles fault. I have some thoughts on fishing. Why as his sheep we seem intent on catching and eating whatever we can find in the depths of our despair? We entangle a few morsels and our appetites are filled but only for a while and then we cast out again. Are we bad fisherman?

For many lost years I cast my net toward the troubled waters and it landed on the shifting sands of illicit sex. I was fishing for compliments, for prey and for whatever sexual satisfaction I could find. I was starved for whoever would stroke my ego and give me the attention I wanted. In the search to fill my net I overlooked two things. My fishing net was broken and I needed to change my fishing spot. So one day after being battered by too many wayward expeditions I took a look at my net. It was worn from the battle scars of a troubled sea of unrest. It lay in pieces from the sinful haul of a hungry young man determined to set sail on fishing trip that would yield no fruit. I needed to settle down and find a place of peace and inner satisfaction. The fish were biting but I needed to move to a better location. I placed my feet on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ the rock and I’ve never went back to the same fishing spot again.

The word “rock” is mentioned in the bible about 128 times. Here’s two of those references.

Psalms 27:5 says, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.” 

Psalms 18:2 says, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

I’m compelled to tell you to seek the rock, seek His kingdom and don’t look to build your own. Matt 6:33 states, “seek ye first the kingdom of God.”I’ve been charged to tell you about my own trip to a place of utter depravity and lowliness. How low did I go you ask? Low enough for God to fish me out of the water, dry me off, give me a solid place to stand on and then supply a new net with no holes. I rose to a new height on the shoulders of the rock. I stood beside the one strong enough to save me. And when I do fall short again i will shout feed me the rock oh Lord. And when I start to sink in a perilous quicksand of shattered dreams He will once again reach out His hand to me and pull me out of the miry clay.

HIS NET IS NEVER BROKEN

His net is never broken and neither are His promises. He tells me daily to cast my net in places I would never imagine. I will rise up from my morning slumber and say Lord FEED ME THE ROCK and be my feet that I would not run to sin, but flee in haste away from that sinking ship. I write to you about my voyage on a supernatural vessel called the Rock and for the rest of my life I will be cruising with Jesus. And now it’s supper time. I have a healthy appetite and I’m ready to feast. As I stroll to the stern with leisure I see a lavish banquet being prepared for those aboard the gospel ship. And with eternal joy I am escorted by an angel dressed in all white to the grandest table set just for me. And with all power and majesty I hear a mighty wind as it whirls over the now brightly lit balcony. The master chef has arrived. The gracious host with the radiant glow slowly turns and walks up to my table. With a sacred smile beaming across His face He takes a seat beside me. In humble adoration I bow down at His feet and say with hands lifted high,”thank you Lord, feed me the rock.“

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9)