Storms will come. Rain, floods, wind. They will beat on you mercilessly, guaranteed. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Not may, or might; but shall. Will you be able to stand? Or will you fall into ruin? You can only make it if you have the right foundation.
Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 7:24-27 with a retelling in Luke 6:47-49. The parables are about two men who each built a house. The first, a wise man, found solid rock to be his foundation. The second, a foolish man, built on the ground without a foundation. When the storms came, the first came through safely. The second had total loss. The foundation is what made the difference.
What is that foundation the wise man had? The answer is at the beginning of the parable. Jesus says that whoever would hear his sayings and do them is like the wise man. Jesus and His words is the foundation. The words of Jesus are what can keep us safe, if we do them. The second part of John 16:33 referred to above says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.” The world brings tribulation; the words of Jesus bring peace.
We also see Jesus as the foundation in these verses:
- “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” – Isaiah 28:16
- “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11
Add to those verses John 1:1 that plainly states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God and the Word are one and the same. Down a few verses in John 1:14 it says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” God, Jesus, the Word; they are all the same Person. They are inseparable and indistinguishable from one another.
This can be summed up by saying that the Bible has to be the foundation in your life if you expect to weather storms that will come. The Word of God is not going to change just as Jesus does not change. According to Hebrews13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Nor is there any situation that was not anticipated by God. Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
But you have to be a Christian in order to read and understand it. According to 1 Corinthians 2:14, “… the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The first part of laying your foundation would be to become a Christian. You can read What is Faith or What is Death to find out about that.
The entire book of Judges is an illustration of what happens when you don’t use the Bible as the basis for life. The people of Israel went through the same cycle over and over.
- The Jews would live in sin, leaving the clear commands of God
- God would send in a strange people to oppress and persecute them
- The Jews would repent and beg God’s forgiveness
- God would send a judge to bring Israel back to His Word and deliver the people from the oppressors
The actions of the Jews are summed up in Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
So when life’s storms come, where will your house be built? When you have to decide what is the right thing to do and what is wrong, what will you trust? Will it be the shifting sand of your opinion and what seems right in your own eyes? Or on the solid rock foundation of God’s eternal Word, the Bible?