Affirming Our Foundation

There is a childlike balancing game I like to play when I go to the beach. You stand in the sand at the water’s edge so the waves can pass over your feet. Each time a wave comes and goes the water takes sand with it until you finally lose your balance. Last one standing without repositioning their feet wins.

Recently, when I went to the beach, I played this game by myself. As I stood there and felt the sand melt away, the Holy Spirit brought this verse to mind:

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”  Matthew 7: 24-26 (NASB)

What are you trying to teach me Lord? When I returned home, I began studying about sand and how rocks are formed. Then, I began to see what the lesson was about.

In the natural, sand is made up of tiny grains of minerals. By itself, sand does not have the properties to stick together and it is so light it can be easily moved by water or the wind.

On the other hand, a solid metamorphic rock like Jesus is referring to in the passage is made up of unlimited sand-type particles that have been “morphed” (transformed) into one solid piece. The sand in metamorphic rocks have been through heat and pressure to form a solid impenetrateable structure.

In the spiritual sense, the sand represents the principles God is teaching us out of His Word. When we do not connect and protect the lessons we are learning, they can easily slip away and we can become off balanced. Without steps to foster change, we can end up falling to the ground with a bang.

However, if we learn the validity of the scriptures one by one through the pressure of the trials we face daily, then the knowledge base built from these experiences will form a solid impenetrateable rock that cannot be destroyed.

Rule of Thumb: 

If you can leave your footprints in your foundation, 

then it is not solid yet.

So...how is your foundation coming along? Are you “connecting the dots” and forming a solid base on which to stand? Forming a foundation takes time and effort to make it strong and our purposes have to be spiritually motivated. But, if you will remain faithful to the process, then nothing will be able to destroy the authority you stand on.

…upon this rock I will build My church;

and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Matthew 16: 18 (NASB)