Scribes & Archers

You see those ruins in the picture? They’re still standing. Why? Because they have a firm foundation. They were built to last. They were built to withstand rain and wind and time in general. Obviously the whole building hasn’t survived, but a large section of it is still there, and it’s because of that foundation.

Nearly everything in the Bible is a foundation for something. The fall was the foundation for sin and the need of a savior. If Passover hadn’t happened, Jesus wouldn’t have had the last supper with his disciples. If God hadn’t orchestrated everything exactly the way He did, things wouldn’t have turned out how they did. Under all that happened to bring a need for Jesus, and Jesus himself, God was controlling it. God was the foundation for all of it. Biblical history – and all of history, really – is like a pyramid. You have to have the layer before for the next one to be exactly right. And God is that foundation and that cornerstone. Isaiah 28:16 says, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.”” He was talking about Jesus. Everything, everything, points back to God and to Jesus. Because they’re the foundation. If they didn’t exist, nothing would. Everything would crumble, like a pyramid without a firm foundation.

We need a firm foundation, too. We need to be able to withstand life’s problems, we need to be able to last through whatever comes. God is that foundation. He’s the only foundation that will actually keep us rooted in place. Matthew 7:24-27 says, ““Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”” We want to be the wise man, not the foolish man. We want to stand firm, not be washed away in the storms.

To be honest, I haven’t been very good at standing on that foundation, but I’m working on it and I’m getting better at trusting God, even though it’s a lot harder than you might think it should be. It’s worth the struggle. I used to think I’d never have God’s peace. I used to think He was just ignoring me in that area. But then I realized I wasn’t really worshiping Him, trusting Him, following Him, and once I started praying more regularly and making a more concerted effort to follow Him, I did get some of that peace. It was my fault, not His. And sometimes that’s hard to accept, but it’s something that needs to be realized so that it can be fixed.

I hope you’ll join me in working to hold to this foundation.