The Bible says,

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the 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 the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and its collapse was great.” Matthews 7:24-27 NASB

The New American Standard Bible nicely titles this passage as “The Two Foundations.”

We see two houses, standing. They look the same from the outside and both these houses face similar challenges in life: rain, floods, and winds.

However once those challenges hit those houses, the after-effect of the challenges show their main differences. Those two houses have different foundations: one is built on the rock and the other one is built on the sand.

What is the source of this difference?

Two different men live in these two houses. In the house that is built on the rock, a wise man lives; in the house that is built on the sand, a foolish man lives.

According to the Bible, the rock is in fact Jesus Christ:

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea; and they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NASB (referring to Exodus 17:6)

When you crush down a rock, what do you get? Sand!

The man who built his house on the sand built his house on one or two Bible verses, or maybe on prophesies.

It is possible to build not only a house but a castle on the sand. However it only lasts until a strong wind comes and blows over it and it will quickly be history.

A man who builds his house on the sand is a foolish man. According to the Bible, a foolish man says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1

That means he professes to know and worship God but when it comes to putting the word of God into practice, he is nowhere to be found. He does life in the way that feels good to him. Practically speaking, he does life as if God does not exist, does not see, and does not hear.

“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” Titus 1:16 NIV

But a wise man, who builds his house on the rock, knows and fears God, and he lives life knowing that God sees and hears and God is the sole Governor of His life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 NASB

Building a house on the Rock means to build a house on the whole counsel of the word of God; to see all life’s circumstances and situations through the lens of Scripture.

Whether it is rain or a storm or a flood that hits a house, the couple who built their house on the rock runs first to the word of God to get the Holy Spirit’s guidance and counsel. They know that it is God who holds their lives and their marriage, and that nothing can touch them or their marriage without the knowledge and permission of God. And if God allows, for example, a storm to hit their house, God has a specific and good purpose behind it. So, they trust God and prayerfully wait and seek His ways.

We all have some sort of foolishness in us here and there, don’t we?

We usually try to do life independent of God and His Word. And when we do that, we see everything we built crumbling down before our very eyes because we built them all on the sand.

Knowing the truth, when our houses get hit by a storm, we shouldn’t let the storm take its course and destroy our marriages. Instead, let’s run to God! Let’s run to the word of God so that He may lead us to the main issue, to see if we built our houses on sand.

God is always in the business of restoring homes, families and marriages. He knows how to help us re-build our houses on the Rock.

So, I appeal with this post to someone who is running to settle his/her marital issue with a divorce. Please, give God and the word of God a chance. Divorce hurts. It hurts us and more so hurts our children. It hurts a generation and it hurts a whole society at large.

The devil is a liar! There is no better life after a divorce! Don’t listen to him. Listen to God. I know, it can be hard and challenging but God is there to help, because after all, marriage is not man’s idea but God’s. Marriage between one man and one woman itself is the Gospel, the good news of the soon-to-be marriage between the Lamb of God and His bride the Church.

Please see your marriage as the Bible sees it. Your marriage tells the story of eternity. It carries the stamp of God. ///