NASB Psalm 71:3 Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have given commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.
In this Psalm, the psalmist is in a tight place...again. Indeed, the Psalms as a whole, if considered as it were the voice of a single individual, portray a person who is most often in a tight place. He has many very active enemies who direct their malice at him specifically.
But the most important person in the psalmist's life is God. The psalmist is on intimate terms with God. Here in verse 3, it is as though the psalmist has completely free, unlimited, total access to God. It is the psalmist who is asking God to perform a service, rather than vice versa. "Be my rock of refuge." "Be to me a rock of habitation".
Across the street from the house where my children grew up there used to be a very large (especially to them) black rock, upon which they always played. "Bye, Mom." "Where are you going?" "Black Rock." They went there so often that one could say they lived there. It was home to them. They enjoyed its comforts in many different seasons, both externally and internally speaking.
God is such a rock to believers. He is a refuge, a hiding place, a protector, a shelter, a comfort, and a peace. He is also the believer's habitation, where the believer lives, spends most of his time, camps down for the night to sleep and rest, and always returns to.
The rock is always there. That's the nice thing about rocks--they don't move! They stay right where they were the last time we left them.
In verse 3 the Psalmist is confident that this Rock will never move. The rock will always be there for him. People in our lives, those to whom we turn for help or comfort in time of need, do move. Their situation changes, or their availability; their moods change, plus they have needs of their own which frequently take precedence over their helping us in our needs.
Not so this rock of refuge. To this rock the Psalmist can always come, continually. Indeed, Jesus said that the wisest thing to do is to actually build our house on the Rock (Matthew 7:24).
Jesus built His house on the rock. In His life, Jesus continually prayed and cried out to His Father, who alone was able to help Him.
Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
"Always." "Continually." God made sure that these words would be in the Bible to both welcome and bid us come to Him.
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Father, yesterday I avoided You because I did not want to talk about what I knew needed to be talked about, but this morning You greeted me with this most gentle of all reminders that You are "always" my Rock of Refuge, even when I have goofed up. You are not the one who condemns the person coming to You for refuge. It is the destroyer who condemns. Thank-You, most holy Father. Thank You for Your patience, and for the time You give us to live and to learn. Thank You for Your Word. In Jesus, Amen.
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