Click for audio: The Rock of Truth
“Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
“Resting upon this foundation [the rock of Truth] we shall stand secure when the winds, and rains, and floods error, of fear, and doubt, and self reproach beat upon us, beat they ever so hard; for we are founded upon the rock.” –Emmet Fox
When a storm passes through our life, we may be tempted to reel and spend a lot of time questioning why it’s happening. One of the strengths of Jesus as a minister was his ability to say, “life is not always easy; it will throw you some curves. And when it does, here is the way to handle it.” I have the feeling that if Jesus drove a car, he’d have a bumper sticker that said, “Storms Happen!”
It’s not the surface storms that get us; it’s the mental and emotional uncertainty that rage through us as we are trying to find some anchor to keep us steady. That anchor is our inner connection with God, the source of all our strength and assurance.
Every storm in life reveals an interesting dynamic in our consciousness. Something occurs that appears to be out of our control, so we try to fix it. When we realize we can’t fix it, we enlist the help of all our external resources. When the storm continues to rage, we begin to feel panic, maybe even overwhelmed. If we continue approaching the storm as an external problem only, our house—peace of mind, inner sense of security, etc.—will collapse.
However, taking the time to turn within and reconnect with our Source will allow us to watch the storm from a secure shelter. It’s the difference in getting caught in a storm while hiking as opposed to watching it from the safety of your front porch.
If your life is stormy right now, take time to reconnect with that rock-solid part of yourself, the rock of Truth. The storm, as always, will pass.