Building on a rock

““Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.”Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have a friend who built a house here in Nepal and every time bad rains come his foundations sink. He thought he had built on a solid foundation but no, the sinking proves him wrong. He had instructed the builders, who were Nepali to not bolt the house to the foundations. Initially they refused but after the foundations sank and his house twisted, he insisted. His house is an unusual A frame house that came in panels. The local builders did not understand this type of housing.

My friend’s example speaks to the need for our lives to be built on Jesus, not our version of Him, but actually all of Him. He is the rock! All of His teaching is good and brings life. It protects us, feeds us, rebukes us.

In the glacial flood here recently in which entire villages were swept away and thousands of lives lost, one lone, blue house did not get swept away. Although the flood waters wrapped themselves around the house, it stood. It’s foundations had been deep and secure. Video footage showed the family up on the roof needing evacuation, but the house survived. It was filled with mud, but it stood resolute.

The floods in life may bring the mud, and flood water and mud stinks. However, having had two motor vehicles caught in floods back in Australia, I know they can be restored. The first, we used eucalyptus oil down the pistons to free up the motor and it worked.

We have the oil of the Holy Spirit! Paul writes, “where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!”(2 Cor 3:17) He sets us free! 

We can trust the Lord to help us clean up the messes of life and bring us through the floods. Amen!


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