Holding on to the Rock and the Beloved

I know it’s been a while since I blogged but between life and school I haven’t had time.  I’ve wanted to share this one for a while.  This is something that hit me while I was in the prayer room a few weeks ago.  Just a little bit of a back-story, one of the things that I like to do when I read Scriptures is….  I try to find images of Jesus.  For example, every time the right hand of God is mentioned its giving us a characteristic of Jesus.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and Psalm 16:11 tells us that “at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  Or like Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.”  Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life.”  One of the reasons that I like to do this is because Psalm 27:4, talks about gazing upon His beauty.  Because so many of us fall into the trap of navel gazing, we look at our lives and we see how off it is from the Scriptures.  And constantly trying to make our lives match what we read.  But our gaze never leaves ourselves.  And this is what Jesus meant when He rebuked the Pharisees.  When He said in John 5:39-40, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”  And so since these words testify of Him, we must pray and ask the Holy Spirit where He is in the Scriptures.  This is known as the beholding/becoming principle.  We behold Him in Scripture to therefore become like Him in life.  But if we navel gaze then we are beholding ourselves and therefore continue to become more like ourselves rather than Christ. 

Okay, enough of that!  Moving on….

I was reading through the Book of Acts and in chapter 2, Peter is preaching to the multitude about Jesus.  He is showing them how the Scriptures have testified about Christ.  In verse 25, Peter quotes Psalm 16:8, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.”  Now this jumped out at me, the fact that the right hand was mentioned.  I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit why that was being highlighted because this was not God’s right hand, its David’s right hand being mentioned.  I didn’t get an answer.  So I just highlighted it and moved on.  I continued reading all the way through Chapter 3.  In this chapter, the first story is about Peter and John going to pray and there was a lame man sitting at the temple gates.  Then verse 7 jumped out at me, it says, “And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”  Now here the right hand again jumped out at me and I asked the question, "Why did Luke make it a point to tell me that Peter grabbed him by the right hand?"  He could have just as easily said, that he grabbed him by the hand to paint the same picture but instead he draws our attention to the right hand.  So again, I asked the Holy Spirit, What’s the point?  What’s the purpose?  Then I was reminded of Acts 2 where Peter quotes Psalm 16:8b, “For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.”  When Peter grabbed the lame man by the right hand and pulled him up, verse 7 tells us that “immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”  He now has a firm foundation to stand on.  He will not be shaken.  

Now of course, the man is rejoicing, leaping, running and then verse 11 caught my attention.  It says, “Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John…”  This bothered me because then the question comes to mind, if he is healed then why is he holding on to Peter and John?  Then the Lord reminds me of Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.”  Now this struck me and more of the verse was unpacked.  So for this I have to back up again to reiterate.  Going back to Act 3:4-5, “Peter said, “Look at us.”  So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.”  Then Psalm 16:8, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face.”  And then Peter takes him by the right hand and immediately his feet and ankles are strengthened.  Psalm 16:8 “For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.” 

(Side Note: Just in case that you’re not convinced that this is pointing to Jesus.  The book of Acts shows us how Jesus was moving through the body of Christ or the “Church”.  And to add to this, think of what Jesus called Peter, “The Rock” Deut.32:4 says, “He is the Rock”)

The Rock, Jesus, was at his right hand and because the man was holding onto the Rock, he is no longer shaken, he has a firm foundation.  Then in verse 11, where the man is holding onto Peter and John.  John was also known as the Beloved disciple.  So here this man, is holding onto the Rock and the Beloved.  Which bring us to Psalm 63:8, “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.”  Jesus upholds us in intercession (Hebrews 7:25, Luke 22:32). 

 

So the next question would be what does it look like to hold onto the Rock and the Beloved so that we are not shaken?  To hold on to the Rock is to read God’s Word and take hold of His promises.  “For all of God’s promises are Yes and Amen!”  ( 2 Cor. 1:20)  And we need to ask God to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, so that we could see how much we lack belief in this.  For example, so many of us pray and ask God to be with us throughout the day or on a journey.  However, this is a prayer that really can’t be answered.  Because He has already promised us that He would never leave us nor forsake us.  So, if God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, what kind of answer are we expecting of Him?  This prayer is sort of counterproductive in a way.  Psalm 145:13b, “The LORD is faithful to all His promises.”  So instead of asking Him to be with us, let us quote the Scripture to remind ourselves and pray it back to Him, thanking Him that He has promised to never leave us, nor forsake us, regardless of the feelings because we do not walk by our feelings.  I myself have been guilty of asking Him to be with me, however I am thankful despite of my lack of understanding that He is faithful and just as 2 Tim. 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”  

The next question would be, What does it mean to hold onto the Beloved?  Well, when you’re in love with someone you long to be with that person and you talk for long hours.  We do this with Christ through prayer.  You long to gaze upon your beloved.  We do this through meditation of the Word.  Then Jesus tells us in Matthew 9:15, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”  Jesus here connects longing with fasting.  Fasting is a natural heart response because of your desire to be with Him.  It is not something done out of duty but out of love because He is our Bridegroom.  As we do these two things holding onto His promises and fostering that life of prayer, fasting and meditation of the Word, The Lord begins to build a strong foundation within us.  It is like a rod of iron dropped within our spine.  And nothing will shake us because He is at our right hand and as we cling to him He will uphold us with His right hand because He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.