Monday, May 04, 2026
prayers of thanks and confession God like a rock Psalm 31
The lectionary Psalm for Sunday, Easter 5 was Psalm 31:1-5. The image of God as like a rock caught my attention. I did a bit of reading, including the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Leland Ryken, Jim Wilhoit, Tremper Longman, Colin Duriez, Douglas Penney, Daniel G. Reid) and wrote a prayer of thanks and confession.
“Great prayer” was one comment after the service, so I thought I’d post it, for anyone wanting to work with the Scriptural image of God the rock.
God as shelter, shade and stability
God our Source, the Bible describes you as like a rock;
A place of shelter and shade, a source of strength and stability,
And so we take to imagine rocks …..
We imagine the rocks on which David, the writer of the Psalms hid from his enemies;
We imagine rocks in the dessert, places of shade to rest when we are hot and bothered;
We imagine rocks as stepping stones across a rushing stream;
We imagine rocks as foundations, stable and strong which walls and roofs can be built.And so, we praise you today as our rock,
A hiding place when we feel threatened,
A moment of shade when we feel hot and bothered,
A stepping stone keeping us safe from water,
Security on which to establish our priorities and find our values.God our rock, we confess we need these images,
Because we live in troubled times — the news is grim, the tragedies are heartbreaking, the people we know are sad with grief and mad at life’s injustice.
So God our rock, we confess our troubles, the troubles of our community and our planet.
We confess our anxiety, uncertainty and fear.And in this service, we take time to pray and remind ourselves;
of your rock like safety and shelter, protection and peace,
Amen.
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