Luke 6:47-49 Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them—I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid a foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river beat against that house but could not shake it, because it was founded on bedrock. But the one who listened to my words and did not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river broke against it, it fell immediately, and that house was completely destroyed.” (EHV)

When I read this text, and came across the word “bedrock,” the theme of the old TV show “The Flintstones” automatically popped into my head. My apologies if it has now done so in your head, as well... In that show, so many items we use today were made out of stone, for “the modern stone age family.” The wheels on the cars were stone. The furniture was stone. Even the bowling balls were made of stone. And of course, the houses were made of stone.

In this section of God's Word, Jesus talks about houses. The first house he describes was not made of stone, but it had its foundation placed on solid stone. Jesus compares it to a second house that was without a foundation. In a similar passage in Matthew 7, he compares it to a house built on sand (or with apologies to Fred Flintstone's neighbor Barney, we could say on “rubble.”) When wind, rain, and flood come against a house built solidly on rock, the house could stand. If on sand (or rubble), it hardly stands a chance.

Jesus is using the solidly built house to depict “everyone who comes to [him] and listens to [his] words and does them.” As you and I listen to his words and put them into practice in our lives, the “houses” of our lives are built on solid foundations. Yes, storms may come, especially as we parent our children with extraordinary challenges. Situations of life's wind and rain won't be comfortable, just like physical, wind-driven rain isn't. But those life situations won't destroy our houses.

Note that Jesus doesn't say that the first house stands because it is so wonderful to look at (just as our lives aren't always wonderful to look at). But it stands because it was built on bedrock, as our homes can be built on the Word of God. This may take effort, as the builders of Jesus' proverbial house had to dig down deep. We need to keep digging deeply into God's Word, mining out the treasures the Lord has placed in it with the messages of his love, forgiveness, and blessings.

Every day, anchor the foundation of your life on God’s solid, life-giving Word. And trust in him to help you weather life's storms.

Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me your Word. As I have gone through different storms n my life, far too often I have not relied on you as completely as I wish I would have. Please forgive those lapses. Lead me to keep learning from your Word and to rely on you as my source of strength and stability. And help me to teach my child to do the same. I pray in your name. Amen.

by Paul Mose