In the midst of California’s unusally stormy past couple of winters, there’s a story that’s been unfolding for some time. One day it took a dramatic leap as a cliff gave way, taking the hillside (and a couple of back porches) from an apartment complex on the coast.
Funny, we’ve known since biblical times that it’s not wise to build on shifting sands, but in California and Florida, and even along the shores of rivers and lakes in-between, people sacrifice security for the view.
As one evacuating resident said “The beauty is still here, but there’s no safety.”
If you grew up in church, you probably remember the children’s song that says, “The foolish man built his house upon the sand…the rains came down, and the floods came up…and the house on the sand went SMASH!”
So why is it that we make these same mistakes after generations? A speaker I heard recently said, “If God has already told us something is true, there’s no point in asking again, hoping for a different answer.”
We do that in so many ways. “Surely He can’t mean that I shouldn’t…(fill in the blank with the willfulness of choice).”
I’m one of the first for wanting to know why I can’t or shouldn’t do something (my mom would attest that “why” was one of my first and certainly my most-oftened used word).
But one thing I’ve learned about scripture is that even though God didn’t explain all of the “why’s” for the cautions He gave us, history (and astronomy and biology and archeology) have proven the wisdom in the warnings.
It’s tempting to think the warnings or ‘rules’ won’t really apply to us; we’ll be fine even if we try to defy the laws of nature. But we can take a lesson from that children’s song and be sure we’re building our life on the solid rock of the Words from the One who knows better.
“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
My boys love that song and now I will think of it in a new way. Thanks for this post!