The Solid Rock

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be."
Great is Thy Faithfulness 
Lyrics: Thomas Chisholm  1923

One of the most beloved hymns of the church is an anthem to the faithfulness of God. We talk about God's faithfulness all the time. We quote scriptures that echo his faithfulness through many generations spanning thousands of years. There is something incredibly profound about God's faithfulness. It is found nowhere else. There is no one who can match it. He is our Rock, he is always faithful.
    Many years ago, I heard the Lord speak to me about starfish. It came when I was a young man. I had gone to the ocean and while there, I found a starfish in a tide pool. Not knowing that it was illegal to take them, I pried the creature off of its perch and put it in the trunk of my car. When I got home, I lifted up the trunk to look for my catch. I searched the trunk, but could not find it. Suddenly I looked up and there, stuck to the trunk lid, was the starfish. It was startling, but revealing. It had never occurred to me that a starfish could move. They seemed like creatures that were always stuck in exactly the same place. Yet this one had moved across the trunk and attached itself to the lid.
    From this experience, the Lord spoke to me about his faithfulness. You see, God's faithfulness is a rock in our lives. He never changes, he never moves. God is always a solid Rock. We can always count on his faithfulness. Starfish attach themselves to rocks. No matter how violent the ocean becomes, they are safe because they are attached to that rock. Even though the starfish is capable of moving and separating himself from its solid rock, it doesn't. There is a life lesson for us here. God's faithfulness is the rock that we must attach ourselves to. When the waves of life become violent, we will find safety in the faithfulness of God. If we move away from our Rock, we run the risk of being overtaken by the storms we face. Only within the safety of the Rock are we kept from danger.
    God's faithfulness is great. He will never change his position. He does not change his mind about us. He never stops loving us. Nothing we can do will ever change him. Time itself cannot change our Rock of faithfulness. We must make a decision to stay connected to that Rock. We live within a covenant relationship with God. He remains true in the covenant. Do we? Even if we are unfaithful to him, he remains faithful to us. He will love, extend grace, show mercy, and shower forgiveness on us. There is only one thing that is absolutely sure in our lives; God's faithfulness. He is our Rock. We must cleave to him. Let's learn a lesson from the Starfish.