022: Surviving the Storms of Life

Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today we are going to talk about how we need to build our house on rock if we are to survive the storms of life. 

You may have heard the saying: Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Well, you can add “storms” to that because we are sure to face them as we journey through life. Ill health. Rocky relationships. Financial burdens. Job uncertainties. Wayward children. Errant spouses. You name it!

Some of these storms can be small, like little gusts of wind that rustle the branches of a tree and make them sway. Others can be like tornadoes that threaten to uproot the entire tree and carry it off into orbit. We face both types of storms, and in recent times it is perhaps more of the latter than the former. What are we to do?

Let me tell you a story. You might remember it from when you were a child. Three pigs built houses for themselves. One made it out of straw, another out of sticks, and the third out of bricks. A wolf came along one day, and he huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the first house down and gobbled up the pig who lived in it. He did the same thing to the second house and the second pig. But he could not destroy the third pig’s house because it was built on a firm foundation.

Jesus said something similar in his sermon on the mount. He spoke about two men who built houses, one on the sand, one on the rock. This is what he said about the man who built his house on the rock. “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:25). 

Jesus is the rock upon which we lay our foundation. His words are the bricks that comprise the foundation. Paying heed to what he says is the cement that binds them together. When storms hit us, only believing in his promises will keep us from being swept away. One of them is this: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). But to believe in the promises, we need to believe in the person. We need to believe that he is God, and he is good. 

Therefore, make sure Jesus is the foundation on which you build, so when the storm hits, even though it might huff and puff around you like the big bad wolf, you will not be blown away. And when the dust has settled, you can say to the storm: Hey! I’m still standing!

May the Spirit be with you.