Are we living upon the Rock?

Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it

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Life sends us a lot of rain doesn't it? Everyone has a few floods in their lives, and that wind, the wind is probably more common than either the rain or floods. Sometimes we get a combination of it all, we get hurricanes in our lives. Yes, I'm talking figuratively because that's what this is all about, it's not a lesson in literal construction but a lesson to teach us about life's many hardships. No one lives in sunshine all the time, no one lives without problems in their lives. We can anticipate some of life's problems but most of them take us by surprise and try to knock us off our feet. What would we do if we could anticipate life's problems? If we were given a blueprint of our lives and told at this point a hurricane was going to hit our lives and try to knock us off our foundation- which is Jesus Christ. We would try to batten down our hatches so to speak, we'd put those shutters up on our windows, we'd lay a good supply of life's essentials around us and we'd wait hoping we were well prepared. See, we don't know when a sudden blow to our faith is going to hit us. We aren't given early warning signs, or are we? Perhaps our warning signs can come in the form of our faith and what we do to keep it strong. If we keep our house in tip top condition we've prepared in the best way we can for any sudden storm, right? If we hear the sayings of Jesus and do them, we are like a wise man who has built his house upon a rock.


In life people don't often live in a single house. Some live in several houses over their lifetime. In the figurative sense we can move from house to house as well- and sometimes our new house isn't built upon the rock of Christ. We take up a new abode and raise it upon sinking sand and we wonder why life is so horrible and we wonder why we aren't strong in Christ but weak in our own righteousness. We have to take stock of ourselves and take stock daily. Are we living upon the Rock today? Are we in the process of moving to a new house not built upon the rock? Do we suddenly find that we've moved in our sleep and we wake up in a sinking house? The good thing about the figurative building is that we can move instantly by the grace of God and we need to move instantly as soon as we recognize the house we are in is falling down from the assaults of life. If we recognize the house we are in is built upon the sand and don't make any effort to move to a house upon the rocks we have no one to blame but ourselves when life's problems overwhelm us completely and drown us, leaving us homeless and flailing about for shelter.


By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, by His righteousness may we seek Him and His ways often and always so that we may live protected by Him and His amazing, unfathomable love.


Amen.