About once a year, when we lived in Azerbaijan, we would take the kids out to the Mud Volcanoes. The Mud Volcanoes are not really lava-flowing volcanoes. They are shaped like small cones and exude muck-like substances forming something more like large mud puddles.
It was incredibly fun to go out and play in them for a day but we’d be covered and caked in a layer of mud by the afternoon. The biggest danger was getting stuck. People could easily lose a rubber boot or pair of shoes. It was possible to sink fairly deep.
There are days in life that feel like being at the mud volcanoes – only it’s not so fun. The feeling is more like being in sinking sand and you aren’t sure that anyone will come and rescue you. It’s easy to allow fear and despair to grow as everything becomes weighed down.
It’s in those times we need to remember that Jesus is called our rock and fortress. He’s not called our mud volcano. Jesus is there to give us strength and support – to be the firm foundation beneath our feet.
American gospel singer and song writer Dottie Rambo sang about where she would go in times of trouble:
I go to the Rock for my salvation
I go to the stone that the builders rejected
I run to the mountain and the mountain stands by me
When the earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand
When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the Rock
Maybe today is one of those days when you need a shelter and a friend. Go to the Rock; go to the one who is our foundation. Go to Jesus.
“There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God”. (1 Samuel 2:2)