Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

Soaked in God's Word, Sprouting Seeds of Faith

A Rock & A Hard Place

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Have you ever heard the phrase “caught between a rock and a hard place?” It was a common saying growing up, and my parents used it many times. 

It means a person is cornered between two extreme situations, neither is better, and any choice will be terrible. It’s a difficult, uncomfortable situation. 

How about “hard as a rock”? I think of this phrase when I sleep on an uncomfortable mattress. Lumpy and rocky. 

Rocks are usually associated with negative things or hard times in our lives.

“Thinks are rocky right now. I’m sure they’ll be better soon.”

Imagine my surprise when I read Psalm 71, and the psalmist asked God to be his rock of habitation! That doesn’t sound like a place I’d want to be!

“Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come” Psalm 71:3

Rock of Habitation

A habitation is a dwelling place. Wouldn’t a rock be a rough and uncomfortable place to stay? Not when we dig a little deeper into scripture. A habitation is also a hidden den, a place of refuge. A  rock or stone provides impenetrable shelter, a safe place, and a refuge from danger. A bunker, if you will. 

We have that shelter and safety today. His name is Jesus. He is our cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), the rock-solid foundation on which we build our lives. 

The Old Testament points us to Jesus when it tells us God is our rock of strength (Ps. 31:2). Deuteronomy tells us God is a dwelling place, and we can find shelter under His everlasting arms. Jesus wants to shelter us under His arms as well! 

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” Matthew 23:27 

When we make Jesus our rock of habitation, those old sayings take on new meaning, don’t they? Jesus is my rock and my hard place (shelter, protection). The covering of His arms is hard as a rock (strong, strong, strong!).

Let Jesus be your Rock!

 

 

Do you have a longing in your heart that needs to be filled? Are you hurting or grieving? Click here to get your copy of Longing to Belong. It will bring hope to your longing heart!

 

Loving by Dying

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4 a.m. 

The bed shivered like a scared, stray dog. Only it wasn’t a dog. It was my husband, racked with chills, sick as a dog. I slid my body next to his and wrapped him in warmth. 

Finally, the chills subsided, and he slipped into a fitful sleep. Laying there, I thought of our wedding vows: in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death do us part.

It isn’t that I was fearful he was dying. Well, not exactly. We are at that age where we go to more funerals than weddings.

1,000 Deaths

But it wasn’t that kind of death I pondered. I was thinking of the thousand little deaths I’ve died in the past week. Because, in and of myself, my druthers (as in “I would rather”) would be to sleep on my side of the bed, on my pillow. Not with my neck contorted, so my husband is comfortable and warm.

I’d rather not take the trash out. I’d rather not constantly refill John’s water glass. I’d rather not strip the sheets and sanitize them when it isn’t laundry day.

But my husband needed me to die to my flesh. He couldn’t take the trash out with a fever over 101 degrees. He needed me to bring him water so he wouldn’t become dehydrated. He was too weak to go back and forth to the fridge. And he needed freshly laundered sheets so he could sleep and rest his sick, hurting body.

“Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking” 1 Corinthians 13:5 (AMP).

Dying to Love

Yes, to love my husband well, I needed to die to my wants and needs. That’s what true love does. It does not make demands of others but seeks to serve them. It does not expect sacrifices from others, but sacrifices for others. 

God is love. He sent Jesus to die for us. God sacrificed His Son because He loves us that much. In light of this, shouldn’t I be able to die a thousand tiny deaths to love others well?

How many deaths have you died lately? How have you been the hands and feet of Jesus to someone?

For His Glory,