Blake Long

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” (Deut. 32:4).

I watched the final episode of the Netflix docuseries Quarterback recently and was amazed at what I saw and heard. This series followed three National Football League quarterbacks throughout the 2022-2023 season—and one of them was Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.

For those who don’t know me on a personal level, I am a huge Vikings fan. I truly ride or die with them (and it’s mostly a die). But I particularly appreciate Kirk Cousins, not just for his football skills, but because I know he’s a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

What made me so joyful watching this episode was, as Cousins was tucking child into bed, he sang a beautiful hymn. “On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.” Mind you, this was after losing their playoff game. I’m sure he was discouraged and upset. Yet, it thrilled my soul to see someone be devoted to the Lord while dealing with the pain of a big loss.

But it also made me think. I quickly told myself I should be doing this with my kids, specifically Jovi, my oldest. So tonight I sang that hymn to her and she absolutely loved it. She’s already singing along! She loves to sing the last part, “All other grounding sinking sand.”

I was trying to explain what it meant, and I said, “Jovi, Jesus is our rock!” She looked at me confused, so I realized she thought I meant literally. “Oh, no, Jovi. Jesus is not a literal rock. Jesus is our rock in the sense of, if we trust in Him, everything will be okay. He will never let us down, come what may.”

Singing this song more and more made me ponder its message. Jesus is our solid rock, and all other ground is sinking sand. What does that mean?

He Will Never Let us Down

Jesus will never let us down, forsake us, or disappoint us. We will never have to be upset (nor should we) that Jesus didn’t come through for us. As our “solid rock,” Jesus is our steadfast hope, our constant companion, our current and future prize.

Our spouses will let us down; our children will let us down; our job, our pastors, our friends, our parents will let us down. That’s not an indictment on all of those people, but the simple fact that they’re all sinners. We will let people down. But Jesus, our solid rock, will never let us down. If our trust is in Him, we can know for certainty that He will keep His word and never go back on it.

We don’t have to wonder whether Jesus has our back—He does. We don’t have to worry about if Jesus is praying for us—He is. We don’t have to ponder the possibility of Jesus giving up on us—He won’t.

He Doesn’t Change

Jesus is our “solid rock” because He never changes. The theological term is immutable. God is immutable—He “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Because of this, we can be assured that our trust in Him will not be in vain.

We may place our hope in a friend who eventually backstabs us. Perhaps we will trust a longtime family member who, all of the sudden, decides to betray our trust. Maybe we have a career that is flimsy and it’s difficult to trust anyone your work with or for.

We don’t get that treatment from the Son of God. He will always be there for us. He will always be by our side, through the good and the bad.

A devotional at Ligonier Ministries noted:

Our character and personality traits may change, leading us to do things that are not in keeping with how we have behaved in the past, but the Lord is unchanging in His character.

We can trust God’s character because we can trust God won’t change. If God were to change, He wouldn’t be trustworthy in the slightest.

He is our Salvation

Finally, our Lord is our solid rock because our salvation rests in Him.

Psalm 89:26 says, “He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’”

We don’t have to look within ourselves for eternal rest—for that is our deepest issue—but we must only trust in Christ, and Christ alone. We know that once we place our genuine faith in the person and work of Jesus, God will see to it that we are glorified. As our rock, Jesus will continue to pray for us and make us more like Him through the Spirit of Christ inside us.

Caves and rocks were often refuge for the Israelites (1 Samuel 13:6), and for David all the while fleeing from Saul (1 Samuel 24:3). In the Psalms, David uses this language even more. “Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken,” he wrote in Psalm 62:6-7. “My salvation and my honor depend on God: he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” David has a deep, abiding trust in the rock of our salvation—and we can too.

We need not fret when times get tumultuous or frightening. We need not get anxious when life gets scary. If we are in Christ, we are secure in Him.