Is Your Head Spinning? Holding Onto the Rock, My Redeemer, My Lord and Savior, Jesus!

My head is still spinning! After counseling and a funeral in Florida on Saturday, July 27, AND after Bible Class, worship, and a meeting to call a new pastor in Florida on Sunday, July 28, I hopped on a plane Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. and I am now back home in Alaska. You know, there’s a 4 hour time difference from Florida to Alaska. So, when I rose at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning Florida time, it was 2:00 a.m. Alaska time. When I finally laid down to bed at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning Alaska time, it was really 8:30a.m. Florida time. Actually, Alaskans know this ‘head-spinning’ experience. Those who travel know this as well. It’s called “jet lag.” I am told it takes a day for each time zone to sort of regain one’s equilibrium. So, you understand why my head is spinning . . .again.

However, to my credit or shame, I am a person who wants to keep busy. I desire to make a difference for good in my life and activities. I don’t shy away from opportunities. Instead, I attempt to balance my life. And, when a person travels from one place to another, there are a whole new group of activities, or responsibilities, or tasks. While I’m hoping to visit with family, and to fish, I am also helping to plan the Palmer Kiwanis Golf Tournament this Friday. I have 4 doctor’s appointments in the next few weeks. This sort of sounds like my devotion from last week about rest.

In all honesty, my experiences bring minimal disruption compared to real trials. Travel and activity are opportunities. But, what happens when natural disasters, or death, or a medical diagnosis, or a national catastrophe, or a child leaving home, or the loss of a job affect our lives? Then our heads really spin! When life causes a person’s head to spin,’ how does a child of God balance these challenges or opportunities? How does a a person actually keep going?

Personally, I find that I can face the challenges of life by knowing who I am, and whose I am. I am a child of God, created by Him, forgiven and redeemed in Jesus, saved for eternal life in spite of the sin and death of this world. What really helps me to face these times is one of the names of God. He is “The Rock!” He is My Rock! When I stand on the Lord, I can face the challenges of life. Please consider some of the verses from God’s word which call Him by this holy name.

The first verse I found in Scripture naming God as The Rock” is in Jacob’s blessings to his sons while on his death bed. In prophesying about Joseph in Genesis 49, God moved Jacob to declare. “But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,” God is The Rock on which Joseph would build.

The Psalms declare of God, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18 2) God is a place of refuge, of strength, of protection in the difficulties of life which spin our heads.

I appreciate the last verse of Psalm 19. I pray this prayer each time I preach the word of God. Yes, for the challenge of speaking words of truth for the lives of God’s people, HE is THE Rock and Redeemer. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19 14)

Isaiah adds to these verses about God’s strength for our feeble and shifting lives. . “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 30 4)

In the New Testament we are similarly told that Jesus is our “anchor” (Hebrews 6:17-20), and our “foundation.” God teaches in 1 Corinthians 3:11, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

How does a child of God face life, face this world, when our head spins? We stand on The Rock. We know Who we are: children of God, created in love and wisdom, redeemed by the blood of God’s son, Jesus, assured of everlasting life through faith in our Savior. When the world spins our Rock and Foundation are sure, stable, and eternal.

Jet lag is a real thing. But, I have been in Alaska two days now. Nevertheless, there are tasks to be faced as I seek to live as my Lord’s child and to make a difference in His name. When my head spins, I hold on to the Rock, onto the foundation which is Jesus.

How do you face the “head spinning” times of life?