The Solid Rock

This spring at church we have been exploring the power of God to radically change lives in the series  Transformed: From Sin to Salvation,

Edward Mote, the English pastor who composed The Solid Rock (also known as My Hope Is Built), is a powerful example of such transformation through the redemptive power of the cross.

Mote did not grow up in a Christian home. In fact, by his own admission, he was unaware of God’s existence until he was fifteen. His parents owned a bar, and spiritual matters were never a priority in their household. What mattered most was earning a living. At fifteen, his parents apprenticed him to a cabinet maker. It was his employer who first invited him to church—Tottenham Court Road Chapel—where Mote encountered Jesus Christ. That moment would change the course of his life forever.

In addition to his growing faith, Mote developed a deep love for hymns. One morning on his way to work, the chorus “On Christ the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand” came to his mind. By the end of the day, he had written four verses to go with it.

The following Sunday, he visited a friend whose wife was gravely ill. He had planned to bring a hymnal to sing with them, but had forgotten it. Instead, he shared the hymn he had just written. The couple found deep comfort in its words.

This timeless hymn reminds us that no matter what storms we face, if our lives are built on the solid foundation of faith in Christ, we are secure. He is our Rock, and He will never abandon us.

The Solid Rock
Edward Mote, William Batchelder Bradbury

Verse 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

Chorus
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand

Verse 2
When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In ev'ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

Verse 3
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay

Verse 4
When He shall come with trumpet sound
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne