For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge.
– Isaiah 17:10
What an indictment of people here in Israel that God says to his people, “You’ve forgotten me, the God of your salvation, the God who has saved you. The God who alone is able to save you today. He who alone is able to save you in the future. The God of your salvation. And you have not remembered.” Listen to this phrase, “The Rock of your refuge,” and rock is capitalized there. “You’ve not remembered me. The Rock that you have to stand on and the refuge you can find in this fallen world.” Just think about that imagery.
Isaiah 17:10 teaches us that God is our refuge and strength.
Imagine being in a storm. Even in light of Jesus’s use of this imagery in Matthew 7. The rain coming, the wind blowing and beating against the house. Why would you deliberately say, “I’m going to build my house on the sand”? And not even just build my house there. “I’m going to stand outside in the middle of it”. No, you’d build your house on a rock, on the rock that’s able to stand, and you’d take your refuge in it. This is who God is. This is what God desires to be for you and me today.
And I just want to encourage those of you who are walking through storms, don’t forget the God of your salvation. Don’t forget the God who has saved you and alone is able to provide for everything you need in the middle of the storm. He is able, and not just able, he is willing. He loves you and he promises to give you everything you need as you look to him. So don’t forget him. Remember the Rock, the capital ‘R’ Rock of your refuge.
Isaiah 17:10 reminds us to come to God in times of trouble.
He’s a refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46 says, “For anyone who looks to him and trusts in him”. Oh God, we pray, especially when we are walking through hard days and facing the fire and trials, challenges. And we’re tempted, oh God, to doubt you, to wonder if you are there. To wonder why you’re letting this or that happen.
God help us, especially in those moments, not to forget that you are the God of our salvation. That you are the God who loves us, has saved us from our sin, and ultimately saves us from death. Saves us for eternal life with you, so that we know these trials are not the end of the story for us. You are the God of our salvation. And God help us to remember you, the Rock of our refuge. And to find our refuge in you when we’re walking through the storms. Lord, to trust in you. To lean on you. To wait on you. And to worship you as our Rock who promises to give us everything we need as we walk through trials.”
Oh God, please keep us from doing what your people were doing in Isaiah 17:10. Forgetting you, the God of our salvation, not remembering the Rock of our refuge. And God, even as we pray that, we praise you. That we know about you. Think about remembering and not forgetting.
Prayer for the Tihami Arab People
And then as we pray today for the Tihami Arab people of Yemen, for 2.8 million of them, who’ve never even heard the good news that you’re the Rock of their refuge, the God of their salvation. They can’t forget this because they’ve never heard it once. God, we pray that the Tihami Arab people of Yemen, please, oh God, may they be reached for the first time with the good news that you are the God of their salvation and the Rock of their refuge in this world. Please, oh God, may it be so.
Help us as your Church. Bless our brothers and sisters in Yemen and those partnering with our brothers and sisters in Yemen, including radical workers on the front lines of this part of the world. God, please, please, please cause the good news of your salvation and refuge. The good news that you are their Rock to reach the Tihami Arab people of Yemen.
We pray this, all of it, in Jesus’ name according to your word in Isaiah 17:10. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
