Words from Wednesday (Devotional)

A Grandparent's Advice

At school, we are getting ready for Grandparent’s Day. So, today I was thinking a little bit about my grandparents. I never lived near my grandparents, but tried to keep in contact with them through letters. I did this ever since I was young. It was fun to get letters back. My Oma was a very good letter-writer. She wrote about everything! She not only wrote letters, but also kept diaries and journals filled with details of all sorts (from life experiences to the littlest detail of the exact temperature outside as she was writing!)

The piece of writing she gave to me that left the biggest impression was a card she passed on to my husband and I just weeks before we got married. We had come to visit her as my Opa was in the hospital, preparing to live with His Lord. She sat by his side all day. They obviously were not coming to our wedding, but offered us a small card with some big advice. She simply wrote some of the words from the following song.

"My Hope is Built on Nothing Less"

by Edward Mote, 1797-1874

1. My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils His lovely face,

I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, and blood

Support me in the whelming flood;

When every earthly prop gives way,

He then is all my Hope and Stay.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,

Oh, may I then in Him be found,

Clothed in His righteousness alone,

Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

And her simple advice was this: That our marriage would be strong if we followed these words.

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

She underlined with squiggles the last twp lines. That was her way of adding emphasis in her writing. I think she had it right on. And that is exactly how I remember that she lived. Both Opa and Oma lived life very simply. (Maybe even too simply at times!) But they never swerved from that simple truth. Keep God as number one; fix your hope on nothing else; walk in His light, on His solid path.

A few weeks later my husband and I got married. A few days later, a “whelming flood.” My Opa went to meet God. And my Oma continued to live her simple life, standing firm in Christ, her solid Rock.*

Especially now during this Easter season, the words of that song hold so much truth and significance. Jesus’ face was veiled in darkness—He went to the darkness and stayed there with the weight of MY sins on his shoulders. And because of that, because of his blood and righteousness, I get to rest in his unchanging grace. Though I deserved the darkness and death He experienced, His grace gives me opportunity to live eternally with Him.
No sinking sand for me. Just My Solid Rock.

(A video again, with clips from The Passion)

*(By her life and message to us, I also find reassurance from the truth in the words from Psalm 103: 17-18: “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.”)

*And just another little side note: And as encouragement to any of our grandparents out there: Proverbs 16:31 reminds us that “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.”