The House on the Rock - Part 2
Matthew 7 (KJ2000)
24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
In this illustration, Jesus describes a wise builder and a foolish builder. Both men built their houses, and both men built their houses with a desire to see them stand. It does not stand to reason that a man would spend time and money to build a house, and be indifferent as to whether it stands or it falls. Both men built with what we must assume are the same building materials. The only difference was in the nature of the kind of soil they built in. One built “upon a rock”, the other built “upon the sand”.
We would do well to observe that building upon the sand would always be very much easier than building upon the rock. While both buildings are going up, the man who built upon the rock would seem to have invested a lot more time, money and energy to achieve what looks like the same goal as the man who built upon the sand.
The man Jesus called wise would look to be the foolish one while he is building upon the rock. He would only be proven to be wise after the rain descended and the floods came and the winds came. The man Jesus called foolish would look to be the wise one while he is building upon the sand. He would only be proven to be foolish after the rain descended and the floods came and the winds came.
When we all read our Bibles or listen to a preacher/teacher, we all seem to be engaged in the same profitable activity. We all look like serious students of the Word of God. We all seem to be investing time and effort in learning the will of God. In fact, some will seem to have a quicker grasp of the great and glorious concepts revealed in the Scriptures, and will be very competent in teaching others. Some will be admired for their oratory and eloquence, and their ability to instruct and inspire the rest of us.
Ecclesiastes 9 (KJ2000)
11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.
Only time and chance will reveal those who are doers of the Word, and those who are hearers only. Only challenging situations and unexpected twists and turns will show those who are anchored in the unchanging Word, and those whose bearings will shift with the flexible convictions of human philosophy and ideas.
Continue in grace!