The thing that really stuck with me from our guest speaker yesterday was the way he interpreted Matthew 7:24. I have heard and read that story hundreds of times throughout my childhood and adult life. The choice between building your house on the rock or the sand seems to be the point of the parable and I come away thinking… “right, I need to build my life on the foundation of my faith in Christ… got it.”
The scripture is clear that the house built on the rock is still standing after the storm, but the house built on the sand is washed away. What I never really thought about, until our guest speaker pointed it out, was that the STORM STILL CAME. The house built on the rock did not have a DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE it only had a DIFFERENT RESULT. In fact the sentence describing what happened to the house on the rock is identical to the one describing what happened to the house on the sand… except for the last part. See for yourself:
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.
House on the sand: 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
What a great reminder that as a Christian we are not exempt from hard times. The promise is that if we make Christ our foundation we will still be standing when the storm is over. He will not let it destroy us. Praise Him in the storm, it will be over soon, and He will carry you through.
