God the Rock

Each day in November, the Everyday Truth blog is looking at a different name for God and providing a family devotional for you to use with your kids. The goal is to keep our hearts focused on giving thanks to God during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.


Before you start today's devotional, go outside and find a big rock. Bring it in and put it in the center of the place where you have your family devotional.

Look at the rock. Have each member of your family describe the rock. Think about all the things you could do with the rock. Pick it up. Is it heavy? Is it pretty? Does it have a particular shape?

Isaiah 30:29 describes God as a rock. It says "And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel." When you first think about it, I'm not sure I would want people to describe me as a rock. I mean, who wants to be a big, heavy, sometimes ugly chunk?

But, take another look at your rock. How easy do you think it would be to chop that rock in half or to make it move? Do you think you could break the rock? Those are the qualities that Isaiah was describing about God when he called God a rock.

God is like a rock in that He doesn't change, and He doesn't move. It takes a long time for wind and weather to wear away a rock. Like the rock, God doesn't change. He is the same God today that He was when He created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. His character hasn't changed.

God is also always there. Rocks aren't here one day and gone tomorrow. They stand for eons. The largest rock in the world is Ayers Rock in Australia. It is a huge mountain of a rock that rises up in the middle of the Outback. Ayers Rock has been there for all of recorded history and doesn't look to be going anywhere soon. Like Ayers Rock, God isn't going anywhere. He's the creator of the world, and He has promised to always be there. Matthew 28:20 tells us "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

God is our rock. We can live our lives based on His promises. We can know that He never changes and that He will always be there for us.

Take a Sharpie marker and write on your rock the ways that God is like a rock. Then leave the rock somewhere where everyone can see it to remind you to be thankful that God is your rock.

Grab your leaves for your thankfulness tree and write on them ways that you are thankful for God being a rock. It could be that He never changes or it could be that you are thankful for a specific time when you know that He was there. You could be thankful for specific promises God has given because if He's a rock, then those promises are solid. Hang your leaves on your tree.

Pray together, thanking God for his Rock-like qualities. Give everyone an opportunity to pray and thank God for being a Rock in their lives.