The Rock of our Salvation

I grew up in the Rocky Mountains. They seem firm, steadfast, and immovable. They are beautiful and majestic. I know I just posted this picture a couple weeks ago, but I love it. It's how my world looks when I do the dishes. (It's the view out the kitchen window.) This is probably the reason I take so long to wash dishes. This and the fact that I take a long time to do everything.

The faithful have always viewed the Savior as their rock, their foundation. The Psalmist wrote:

"And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer" (Psalms 78:35).

"But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge" (Psalms 94:22).

And Nephi wrote:

"...therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God" (2 Nephi 4:35).

Each of these passages demonstrates to me that the writer understood where his strength came from. The solidarity of the Savior in our lives protects us from all the different things that try to destroy, depress, or tempt us.

Helaman taught his sons, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12).

When we build our life upon Jesus Christ, the promise is that we cannot fall. That's powerful. It's empowering. But it's also humbling, since the power is not ours. We always need to remember the source of our strength. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, he taught the importance of building a solid, sure foundation:

"Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

"He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

"But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great" (Luke 6:47-49).

Isn't that powerful imagery? I think that this short parable would be a good idea for a song. The teaching is simple, yet profound: we can build our life on Jesus Christ--coming to Him, hearing His sayings, and doing them--and we can not be shaken. Or we can build on a weak foundation, and no matter how great the building, the ruin will be great.

This last scripture is also a Psalm. I thought it is particularly relevant at Christmas time.

"O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation" (Psalms 95:1).