Building on the Rock

Matthew 7:24-27, "So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell--and great and complete was the fall of it."

Matthew 7 paints a picture of people's foundations. There are two options: sand or rock. We are shown in this chapter how those who build their houses on sand end up homeless in the end because their foundations are bad, while those who build their houses on the rock don't have to fear damage because their foundations are strong.

When I was little, we sang a song in church that said, "Jesus is my Rock, and He rolls my blues away." You see, the only way we'll ever have a firm foundation is if Jesus is our foundation. He must be our foundation in every area of our life. We need to build our jobs on Him, our families on Him, our marriages on Him, and every other thing in our life needs to be built on Him, our solid foundation.

As I look back at my life, I see things that were built on Him, and I see things that were not built on Him.

The things that I built on Him have withstood the test of time, while the things that I built on sand, because I knew they weren't what God wanted for my life, fell apart.

Relationships that I wanted that were not founded on God fell apart. Things that I tried to take into my own hands fell apart. But things that I trusted God to take care of worked out beautifully in the end!

The true test of where our foundations are built comes when the wind begins to blow and the storms begin to rise in our lives.

How do we handle the storms?

It's easy to follow God when life is comfortable and when following Him doesn't hurt, but when following Him starts to hurt or when we experience difficulty that we know He could prevent, we have to see whether our foundation is on the Rock or on the sand.

If it's on the Rock, we'll be able to stand firm through the uncertainties and difficulties of life, but if it's on the sand, we'll crumble due to the fact that our foundation was not on solid ground.

There's a song that I'm going to attach to this devotional that I think pertains greatly to this. It's called "Even If". In this song, the guy talks about how even if the healing doesn't come, God is still God, He is still good, and He is forever faithful. This represents someone whose foundation is on the rock. His circumstances don't cause him to crumble because he knows Who God is.

We must come to a place of knowing Who God is. We must believe that He really does have a good plan for our life, even if our eyes tell us differently. We must trust that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them, even if the things going on in our lives seem anything but good. And we must believe that God is with us always, even if we can't feel Him at the time.

Our foundation has to be on the solid Rock.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I desire to have my foundation built on You! In a world that's ever changing, You stay the same, and I love that! Lord, I've found that I need stability in my life. I need constant and unchanging! You have given me those things, and I'm grateful! Help me to build my life on You! Help me not build anything on the unstable sand. Let all that I do be based on You!

In Jesus' Name.

Amen.