Storms Will Come

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!

Matthew 7:24-27

One of the biggest lies Satan tells is: God rewards the good and punishes the evil. This lie implies that when things are going well, God is pleased with us. Conversely, when things are going bad, God is upset with us. This lie distorts reality in many important ways.

When we believe this lie, we begin to see others who are "successful" and assume God is blessing their lives and thus baptize their behavior, whether it is God pleasing or not. The so-called prosperity gospel of TV evangelists glorifies this lie to such an extent that they have massive followers and mega-churches. People want to be successful and rich and how much more enthralling to believe this is God's blessing!

The even more insidious consequence of this lie is that it tells people who are struggling that it is their fault. The lie tells us that it is their fault for health struggles; their fault for financial difficulty, their fault for family problem, their fault for all of life ills and God is punishing them for their sins. This shame and embarrassment that accompanies these struggles also tends to keep people away from their faith communities when they need them the most.

Jesus eradicates Satan's lie. He does not say that those who build their house on rock will avoid the storms. He doesn't say that only perfect people with perfect faith can be accepted. Rather, life brings storms no matter who you are. If you have a foundation of faith, a life built on rock, you can withstand storms much better than those without faith. Christians are not immune to struggles and difficulty, rather we are better equipped to handle them.

We must build a foundation of faith great enough to trust and believe in God in the most trying times. Faith is preventive medicine rather than emergency room care. We lay a foundation of prayer, scripture, serving and giving throughout our lives and become changed people. People of faith have complete assurance, by God's grace, their place with God is secure and complete. The storms will come, but God is already victorious!

Prayer: Lord, help my life be founded on your love and your ways. Equip me to deal with the storms in life in a way that gives witness to your amazing grace and mercy, in Jesus' name, AMEN.