Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV) The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 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. 26 But 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. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Building a house or a family is similar to building a nation. If the house is founded on the sand which is a picture of the fragments of man’s relying on his own knowledge and ideology, scripture warns us that we build in futility. We should build on the Solid Rock who is Jesus Christ, the Word of God. The Scripture also implies to us that we really don’t need a Prophet to tell us that the storm is coming because it is already implicated in the above scripture that storms will visit our lives and it’s a given part of our life since the fall of man, it’s just a matter of When and How. That is why we need to build in the right foundation. It is not because of climate change although I believe that it is our godly responsibility to take care of our environment, I believe that the flood of Noah came not because of the garbage in their drainage, in as much as I believe that fire rain down upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorra alone and did not include the rest of the world because of the climate change. Storms come into the lives of both the good and the bad, but the Lord knows how to secure those who are His. Even to Job in the Bible, after being declared by God as the most righteous man on the earth in his time, yet he was not spared of the storms. Storms from Satan not from God visit Job to test him. It was not God by the way who struck Job but it was Satan who masquerade himself like God. Satan displayed the power like God by sending strong wind from the sky, and also display the power of sending fires from heaven, think of that. And Job was not even able to recognized that it was Satan, he thought it was God. But Storm from Satan somehow was allowed by God to expose the hidden secrets in the heart of men like Job until he finally discovered that he has arrogance and pride in his life that he later began to challenge the righteousness of God. Job’s storms in life was far more than most of us experienced, the lost of all his children, the lost of all his wealth, the boils and skin disease that was beyond cure. But God upon Job’s realization of his sins of self idolatry and pride, God forgave Job, granted him mercy and grace, and restores all he lost far more than the first, and his life was even extended for him to see even his grand children down to the fourth generation. Jesus Christ Himself was also tested down to His very last breath, and down to the very last drop of His blood, down to the very limit with the worst punishment Satan could ever apply to humanity, but on the contrary Jesus never complained and challenged God. That is why He becomes our righteousness, our perfect holiness, our redeemer, and our Great High Priest. Christianity never promise a storm-free life, we have to accept it. It’s not even promising a storm-proof life as many preacher would say. But this is what I am sure of, it promises a cross to carry. Jesus said if we don’t carry our cross daily and follow Him we are not worthy of Me (Luke 9:23). But we should always remember that our cross is nothing compared to what He had done and continue to do in our lives. Though we are in Christ we still sometimes suffer some casualties but they are not without hope, or without repair. Contrary to those who build their house in the sand, if we remain in Jesus we can never be totally shaken or shattered. Though wounded, we have a healer who heals our wounds, restores our soul and renew our strength because we are founded in the firm foundation, Jesus the Rock of our Salvation. Looking at my life I can’t imagine how I survived the storms that had visited me. I can only realize that it was all by the grace of God that His love never abandoned me in all my troubles, He sustained me with His Word, and gave me the grace to cry out to Him in all of those times of my deep need. He gave me a renewed hope, and second chances so that I can mend my ways according to His Word and obey His purposes for my life. Friends, God don’t desire us to suffer, He only desires us to love Him in spite of. It is in times of humble state that our worship to God is clearly heard and highly appreciated by the Father. This is the reason why our worship to God in our times of tribulation here on earth is more precious to God than all the worship in heaven where there is no trouble at all. Let us smile at the storms because Jesus Christ in us is greater than he who is in the world. We are not alone, we have Jesus Christ The Hope of all creaation.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 03:09:42 +0000