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Gibraltar

 

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 26:4)

          Today’s passage comes from the Bible website I use. I decided to go with it because I struggle so much with the issue of trust. If you are of a certain age, the phrase the Rock eternal might being to mind a logo of an insurance company. It’s the Rock of Gibraltar. Now, if you’re like me, you may have thought Prudential chose this logo because it’s a huge rock and rocks are strong and steady. I learned this morning that’s not why.

          Toward the end of the Revolutionary War in America, Spain decided to “help” American independence by joining France in a war against England in Europe. The blunt truth of the matter was that they wanted to take some real estate away from the British who had occupied it. Helping the Americans, well, that was just another way to bloody King George’s nose. The siege began in 1779 and ended in 1783. The Spaniards didn’t do a great job because at least two shipments made it to the rock to resupply the British. Eventually, the French joined in the siege, but even together, they failed to capture the rock. It was the longest continuous siege in history, at least in terms of physical warfare. And I was today years old when I learned this.

          The analogy that Scripture suggests is that God is like Gibraltar. Throw everything you have at Him and you may as well have dumped it overboard. Those who build on that Rock aren’t free from attack. They are besieged, but not defeated. It’s not that survival is easy, it’s that the Rock makes it possible.

          Of course, it’s reasonable to ask what would have happened if the British had not trusted in Gibraltar. The most obvious answers are that they would have tried to flee to England (and possibly been captured or killed,) or they would have surrendered (with the same results.) It wouldn’t have mattered how much protection Gibraltar afforded if they had not trusted it.

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