READING: 2 Kings 9-10, Psalm 49, Matthew 7
I can hear the song in my head even as I write the words: “The wise man built his house upon the rocks, the wise man built his house upon the rocks . . . .” We taught that song to the Sunday School bus ministry kids, and we sang it each Sunday on the way to church. Every Sunday, actually. Multiple times. At the top of our lungs sometimes . . . but they’re all good memories.
I knew the lyrics then, but I didn’t really understand their meaning. As a 13-year-old at the time, I hadn’t lived through many times when “the rains came tumbling down” in my life. Many years later, I’ve learned that life can be a series of storms at different points in our journey. The rains do come down, and the floods do come up. How we respond to them, though, reveals our foundation.
If we’ve built our house on the temporary, we won’t stand strong through the storm. We’ll get angry at God for allowing the storm to happen in the first place. We’ll try to rescue ourselves from the storm – a reaction that often creates an even bigger storm. If we’ve built our house on the strong foundation of Christ, however, we’ll not only weather the storm; we’ll faithfully thrive through the storm as God gives us an incomprehensible peace.
Either way, God uses the storm to help us see our own hearts.
PRAYER: “God, help me to trust You in the midst of the storms. Be my rock, Father.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Chronicles 22-23, 2 Kings 11, Psalm 131, Matthew 8