My hope is not in worldly goods
Of stone or clay or gold or wood;
But it is in a surer thing,
The blood of Christ, my only King.
In a world that is clinging to things fragile and unstable, from paper goods to sanitizer to social media, I am filled with joy that my hope is in the One who made this universe and all its microbes and molecules. I won’t deny it can be a difficult thing to keep our wits about us when panic seems to be pressing in from every direction. I’m tempted to just be frustrated and shake my head at some of the decisions I see from people that I think should know better, should have more common sense.
My hope is not in common sense,
Or human wisdom so immense.
For truth displays a stranger side
Our God become a sacrifice.
Peace has always seemed a little bit elusive and out of reach: I’ve battled with fear for a lot of years. It has whispered in my ear, wrapped itself around my heart, trampled my brain. If Jesus came to give us a gift of peace, why are wars and rumors of wars heart-pounding? But what I’ve found in recent days is this: people of peace are hard to distinguish until there is turmoil. In times of peace, it’s easy for pretty much everyone to appear peaceful. When the seas become tempests, you find out who can sleep in a storm-ridden fishing boat.
My hope is not in vessels strong
Nor guiding star or morning dawn;
The grave will come and I shall rise
Upward and onward to bright skies.
Hold fast, beloved friends! We don’t serve a God who sleeps or slumbers (Psalm 121). Instead, we serve a God who invites us to rest, to sleep in peace even though storms and nations rage. Keep your eyes upon the only One who is unmoved, unafraid, unworried by spiraling economies and emotions. Anyone who is willing to pour out their own blood to save us can be trusted with every moment of our lives.
(refrain) On Christ the Solid Rock, I stand
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
Refrain The Solid Rock written by Edward Mote (1834), all other verses in this piece are original by Jordan Durbin
The featured image is courtesy of Lancia E. Smith and used with her glad permission for Cultivating and The Cultivating Project.
Jordan Elise Durbin is a cultivator of five wondrous children, a slightly out of control garden, and a small-but-efficient pottery studio. Her laundry piles can attest to her many activities and willingness to do anything but manage said piles. She can frequently be found running Ohio’s magical trails with her children, baking large quantities of buttery goodness, and writing about the woes and wonders of medieval chickenry. She is the author of The Chicken Pox: A Feathery Retelling of Hansel and Gretel, Periwinkle, and The Prodigal Fox. She has contributed to Cultivating since 2018. Jordan is the curator for the column “Cultivating A Maker’s Life”. She looks for the glory of God in every corner of creation and regularly finds it.
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