O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!......
Let those who fear the Lord say,
'His steadfast love endures for ever'....
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
With the Lord on my side, I do not fear....
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
(New Revised Standard version)
Years ago when I was a child I had a toy which kept me amused for days on end. It was a Bako building set. Unlike Lego is used small rods that fitted into a green base, and bricks that slid between them. If you were building a house you needed to make sure that you planned out what you were doing, otherwise the bricks, windows and doors didn't fit properly and there was a gap, or else perhaps the roof was too large or too small. It was a very fiddly process and I frequently ended up remaking the whole thing after working on it for some days.
In a real house cornerstones become important to keep two walls safely embedded into one another, and anyone building a garden wall will quickly realise the need for a cornerstone. In God's plan for our world the image of the cornerstone is used. Jesus is the cornerstone - the man that was rejected and crucified - has now become the stone upon which Christians depend.
When we call on God in distress we need to remember that He is on our side, and that His plan included the death and resurrection of His Son as a way of enabling us to be reunited with Him. With God on our side we should not fear anything.
Heavenly Father,
help us not to fear our future
or the future of loved ones,
but to hold fast to the fact
that You sent Your Son to be our Saviour,
and help us to remember
that Your steadfast love endures for ever.
Amen.