Floods
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[April 22, 2010]
--"Everyone then who
hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man
who built his house on the 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
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The floods do come, don't they? The rain begins in our lives and we
think little of it, a little adversity here, a mistake there, they
rain down and don't seem like a big deal. But then we look around
and we try to take a breath and we realize we are drowning; drowning
in our lies and mistakes, drowning in our broken relationships and
bad decisions, drowning in the harsh acts of others. Drowning.
Life has a way of overwhelming us, of coming upon us and grabbing us
and shaking us about and when this happens we do not know what to
do. We are afraid and hurt and tired and we reach out for anything
which might pull us out of the flood, free us from the rising waters
of trouble around us, but to what do we cling?
You know the answer. Jesus gives us the answer above. The only
thing that will reliably see us through the vicissitudes of life is
the Word of God. That is it. It is God's Word which tells us, "do
not worry, consider the birds of the air," or, "this brother of
yours was dead and has come to life," or, "for God so loved the
world that He gave His only son..." You know the words, but do you
know the Word? It is reminders like these which keep us from
slipping under, which proclaim the truth, that there is always hope
because the God we worship and love, loves us more than we could
ever imagine. So fear not, the rains will come and the flood-waters
will rise and the winds will blow, but they are powerless in the
face of God; in the face of your God!
[Phil Blackburn, First Presbyterian Church]
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