The Rock

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like  a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built  his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. (Matthew 7:24-27)

(I’m pulling this devotional from my archives, I originally wrote it in 2009 during a trip to Hawaii!)

Yesterday, we took a drive to a lookout point.  When you looked straight ahead you could see a little cove off of the ocean, to the right was a mountain, and to the left a huge piece of rock formed out of the mountain.  There was a lighthouse on the tip of the rock on the left.  At the bottom, the water came and went as it pleased.  It did not disturb the lighthouse or the big rock itself.

At the bottom, of the huge rock where the water came and went I had seen the erosion of the rock over a period of time, where the water had come  in with the tide and splashed against the rock.  But then it receded.  I kept watching this and thinking how amazing it all looked.  The lighthouse was undisturbed and the rock was unmovable.  Yes, the water below was constantly hitting the rock and ever so slightly the rock gave in to the water.  But the amount that the rock gave in to the water was so miniscule that the naked eye could never see it, except over time.

This reminds me of our lives.  People come and go in our lives.  Some people add to who we are and encourage us.  They help the rock below us become more strong, but then there are others who come up like the water eroding some of our rock away.  It can be through negative words, harmful comments, hurtful actions, etc.  We all have had someone try to steal a little piece of who we are.

But if we do as Jesus says in His Word, we can stand firm.  We can remain steady and unchanged.  He is the rock of my salvation.  We need to put His words into practice.

God’s Word is pure and as we make it the foundation of our lives, we become strong enough to handle the storms that come our way.  We will not toss in the wind, if our lives are built on the rock of God’s Word.  God is our strength, He is the One who can lead us through any kind of pain to a place where peace, joy, and hope overflow in abundance.

Lord, please help me to focus on you and not on those who may hurt me every once in a while.  You are the Rock I lean on.  Please continue to plant Your Word in my heart, so that I may stand on the Truth of who You are!  I am not my own, I am Yours.  May I live my life out like the lighthouse on the rock, shining brightly for all to see…knowing that nothing can harm me.  Thank you Father God for being my Protector, my Healer, my Sustainer, and My ALL in ALL!

Leaning on the Rock who is Higher than I,