Stability vs. Instability

3/6/2018

I was going through the paperwork in my desk and ran across some old “Bulletins” form around 2005 and found this one. Hope you get something out of it, because it spoke to my heart.

 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.   Luke 6:48 (KJV)

Recently I went through an experience that got me to thinking. We are in a changing world where you cannot depend on anything or anyone. You think you have a spouse that you will spend the rest of your life with and then it ends in divorce. You get a job that you enjoy and then lose it. You find a church that fits your spirit and the devil sends an army to destroy it. The list can go on and on. We cannot depend on anything here on this earth.

Then I was impressed with the fact that maybe God feels that way about us. How many times do you meet someone that gets their heart right with God and the next time you see them, it’s not. I was talking to the wife of such a man this last week. He was in and out so much that we were starting to wonder if he had installed a revolving door to his heart. When you know someone like this, it makes you wonder how God can be so forgiving to keep taking him or her back and also to pray that they do not sin their last chance away.

How many of us make the determination that we are going to start being faithful in the task that God has set for us to do. Then after a few days, we fall back into the old habit of not doing it. Such as being at church on time, getting up early every morning and praying before we start our day, giving more in the offering then before or anything else, that we have failed God in, it doesn’t matter what. If we have done this to God every often He is probably wondering how stable are we.

We need to be the type of person that is mentioned in the above verse. We need to be someone that has “digged deep” in our Bible and worn out the knees on our garments. We need to be the person that has laid a firm foundation of prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, giving in the offerings, giving of our time and in witnessing to the people that we meet. The rock that we need to build our foundation on is Christ Jesus, the Son of God.

When we have built a firm foundation on Jesus we can stand the storms of life that we face on a daily basis. Most people want someone that they can rely on, and sometimes the only one you can rely on is God. We know that God will always be there to help us no matter what we face. If the storm that comes against us is like unto a spring shower or as severe as a force 10 hurricane, we can turn to God and there He is. He is waiting to meet our needs we just have to reach out and ask.

We each have had someone we think we can depend on to let us down. It doesn’t matter who it was Pastor, Parent, Spouse, Brother, Sister, Child, Friend or just a casual acquaintance, what matters to us is that they hurt us. And if being let down hurts us, we know that it also hurts God when we let Him down. At this time I have never heard of anyone being let down by God.

Some people think that God has forsaken them because they have closed their mind and hearts to Him. They go through a storm and things seem like God isn’t there when it gets rough. If they stay on their knees and true to God till they get through that particular storm and look back then they can see where if it were not for the hands of the Lord around them it would have been rough enough to sink them. Where so many people get to the point, where there is a little wave starting and turn their backs on God just because of the little waves. God didn’t say that we would have smooth sailing. In fact, many verses tell us that we will have hard times. The above verse is one of them. If it were to be a storm free life then why would he have it in His word that we were to build a firm foundation?

C.I. Wilson