Yet We Will Not Fall...

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” Matthew 7:24-26.

A few years back we took a family vacation to the beach which included our children and grandchildren. The first day we went down on the beach I noticed there was a line of huge rocks leading down to the ocean serving as a barrier. I was amazed at all of the sand castles that peppered the beach creating a small village. You could tell they were carefully and intentionally constructed for the outward appearance and enjoyment of others. As we all know, sand castles are for the enjoyment of the day with little hope of survival through the night. The tide creeps in and steals its structure with the first few waves creating a distorted castle with no lasting beauty.

My grandson Carson didn’t like the pull of the undertow so instead of building castles he chose to watch others build upon the sand as he safely sat upon the rocks. Within the rocks there were patches of sand which provided a safe haven for sand castle building. His castles were secondary to the rocks instead of the castle being primary to the sand. The rocks provided a barrier from the dangers of the ocean and a security on which he could depend.

We cannot control the trials of life anymore than we can control the tide rolling in. As adversity creeps into our lives it exposes and erodes the things on which we have built in the flesh. It steals our peace and creates holes in the place of legs on which to stand. We cannot spend our time during times of calm building elaborate sand castles which only have temporal beauty on the outside but no structural integrity underneath. If we have built our faith on sand, we will feel the erosion of its foundation under our feet when the trials roll in. If we have built our faith on a rock, the truths of Jesus, our foundation will be unmoved. We will still get cold and wet but we will have the security of the Rock and will not lose our footing.

…yet we will not fall.