²⁴ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

Matthew 7:24-29

Dear God, so if I listen to your teaching and follow it then I will have a house that doesn’t have storms? No, that’s not what you said. You said that I will have storms, but the house will stand. My life will stand. I wonder how this might change how I pray for others who are going through storms. Should I focus more on their relationship with you and how they follow what Jesus taught in this sermon? I know a couple who is going through a difficult health situation for the wife. I’ve been praying for her. I’ve been praying for his strength as her caregiver. I’ve been praying for their peace. Should I also be focusing more on how this will drive them closer to you and following your teachings.

My wife and I have had some storms over the last 15 years. I’ve mentioned the constant sorrow in our lives. I think I can say that I am closer (although not as close as I want to be) to following your teaching now than I was 15 years ago. My foundation is closer to the bedrock. A lot of the sand has washed away. Maybe one of the things that the storms do is wash away the sand to reveal the rock. If there’s no rock there then the whole house comes tumbling down. But if there is rock beneath the sand then the act of the sand being washed away will be painful, but, like the chaff being burned out of my life or the dross being removed from my soul, it will leave something more pure and closer to you.

And then there is the life that is built completely on sand. The life that does not truly worship you or love its neighbors. The life that calls your Lord, but you do not know them. That life can look very messy–especially when the rains fall. I’ve seen a lot of those lives.

Father, help me to have a vision for how to continuously knock the sand away from my foundation. Help me have a life that is built completely on your rock. Help me to know how to love you, love my wife, love my children, love my family, love my friends, and love others. Help me to know how to represent you to the world. Help me to know exactly what you want me to do when you want me to do it. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear. And keep me mindful of what Jesus taught me. Let it ring in my ears. Continuously. Do it for your glory. Do it for your kingdom’s sake. Do it so that you might be able to use me in any way you see fit regardless of the storms life might bring.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen