How can I storm-proof my life?
by Robert Krumrey
Most of us are feeling the ground beneath us give way. Things that once seemed so certain are now letting us down. A stable economy. Freedom to come and go as we please. Most unsettling, the health and well-being of ourselves and those we love. In the past, these things served as a source of peace, hope, and joy, but now nothing seems certain.
If we are honest, we know we shouldn’t have been putting so much trust in those things in the first place. We only have to look a country or two over to see unrest and upheaval even before the days of the Covid virus. As westerners, we have a tendency to look smugly at our neighbors wondering why they can’t get their act together. Truth is, when any country is thriving, it is a fragile state of affairs. The slightest shift can send us grabbing for the walls, wondering if the floor is going to drop out from under us.
So where does that leave us? Are we doomed to a life of absolute uncertainty, or is it possible to storm-proof our lives? Jesus gives us a vision of a life built on solid ground! You heard this hope-filled declaration in last Sunday’s sermon from Austin Kopack. Jesus says it is possible to build your life on an unshakable foundation. Here are his words from the gospel of Luke:
“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
In this teaching, Jesus says life is like home building. When you build a house, you start with the foundation. It’s not the only thing about that house that is seen or is important, but it is the first thing that must be built and it is the MOST important. Without a good foundation, the rest of the house will fall in on itself, especially if there are harsh weather conditions like wind or rain or floods. One interesting thing about the building of a home in ancient Palestine is that you didn’t “build” a foundation. You couldn’t pour a concrete slab for instance. Instead you had to find a foundation that was already there and build on it. The best foundation to build on was one of rock. This sometimes required that you “dig deep” through the soft sand or clay to get to the bedrock which would make a suitable foundation.
This digging deep was not easy so sometimes people didn’t do it. I must admit that I would probably be this kind of home builder. I am forever trying to make my home improvement projects faster and cheaper. The result is usually the same. The project isn’t done right and it either doesn’t work correctly or completely breaks and needs the same fix it needed when I started. I can also tend to live my life this way. Go the path of least resistance. Choose the quickest and easiest way to live so I can move on to something more fun than digging through rocks and clay to get to something solid.
Problem with this kind of living is that when storms hit, your life isn’t ready and the whole structure that you’ve built comes crashing down. Jesus gives us some valuable insight when it comes to how to storm-proof your life so this doesn’t happen. He says that we are to do so by hearing AND doing his words. Jesus is being very clear. His expectation of his followers is that they would both know his words and once they know them they will put them into practice. He sees those who hear his words and even profess them religiously but don’t do them as not even getting close to the storm-proofed life. Hear his introductory question to this teaching:
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
Jesus is clear with his disciples that hearing his word, even saying it, but not doing it is not acceptable. His expectation is that we would hear and do his word. This is sometimes difficult to figure out. Are we hearing and doing OR merely hearing and professing? One of the ways we can know is when our faith is tested by a storm (also see James 1:2-4). When the wind begins to howl and the floods start to rise, do we have stability in spite of the raging storm? If we feel our foundation giving way, it’s time to get a new foundation or at the very least stop attempting to balance our weight between Jesus and other things.
One of the blessings of a time like this is that we can give up leaning on lesser foundations and put the full weight of our lives on Jesus. As we feel the stress rise and the fears overwhelm us, we can ask God to forgive us for saying Jesus is our foundation but really believing in our heart that cash is our rock or family is our rock or health is our rock. We can ask God to produce in us belief from our hearts that Jesus is our ultimate hope. His is the only foundation that can stand the weight of this life . . . and even the life to come.
One of the images used in the Old Testament to communicate God’s wrath was the storm. Jeremiah the prophet uses this powerful word picture:
“Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.”
Storms in the ancient world were scary. Partly because they are powerful (still are!) and partly because people didn’t know what to make of them scientifically. They represented uncertainty and danger even a potential cause of death. The ultimate storm we could ever face is the wrath we deserve for our sin. No amount of digging or building or shoring up could ever save us from this, the deadliest of pandemics. One that has a 100 percent eternal death rate.
This is also what Jesus is teaching here in his parable of the foundations. The storm that is coming, the righteous judgment of God against human sin, is something that can only be weathered because Jesus himself has taken that wrath upon himself. He has allowed himself to be washed away by the flood of judgment we deserved resulting in us being forgiven and given a new life. This life is safe on the rock of our salvation. Rejoice today that this ultimate of storms has been averted, and let this solidify your daily faith in this One who has provided for your life now and forever.