Deuteronomy 11:18.
“Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.”
Matthew Ch7:24-27.
"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
Comment
Notice something too, the author of Deuteronomy warns against something too. Turning aside from the way I ordain for you today and following other god’s.
Now that is a good way to put it.
Where do you follow gods? That means of ultimate concern. You follow those at the level of your heart, at the level of your soul.
I mean you can seek after material success, fame and all that, but you should be seeking God at this deeper level.
Don’t run after false god’s because that will lead to a skewing of your soul. That will lead ultimately to a breaking of your heart.
Now we can find much the same thing, this summary statement, in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew Ch7:24-27.
Jesus says “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew and buffeted the house but it did not collapse.
Friends, this is the heart of it.
If you are rooted in God at the level of your heart and your soul you are following the intentions and commands of God.
Then what?
You can withstand anything.
Why?
Because you are linked at the very centre of your life to that very power that is here and now creating the cosmos.
That power which transcends all of space and time. You are linked to God and the storms will come, the floods will come and they will not touch you.
How about the one who does not take Jesus words to heart?
He will be like the fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came and the winds buffeted the house and it collapsed and it was completed ruined.
Now friends, notice something here.
The winds and floods come in both cases.
Jesus here is giving us the proper reading of Deuteronomy. It does not mean follow God’s command and the winds and floods will never come. No no.
Both the one who follows God’s command and the one who doesn’t experience the rain and the floods. That means all the trials and temptations and difficulties at the surface of your life. That isn’t the question here.
The question is. Where are you rooted?
If you are rooted in something other than God, then when those rains and winds and floods come you will collapse and if you are grounded in your heart in the commands of God you can stand and withstand anything.
I have known lots of people who have got it all together. They have got everything.
Look at that beautiful house but then there comes sickness, there comes loss, there comes failure, there comes the premature death of one of their children.
There comes the death of a friend. Whatever it is, all those normal winds and floods that bedevil us and that house can come crashing down.
So the question is, where do you stand?
How goes it with your heart?
On what precisely, is the whole of your life built?
On the commands of God, then you are built on rock.
On anything else, you are built on sand.
And from that everything else will flow.
And may God bless you.
Source: Father Robert Barron www.wordonfire.com
This reminds me of that famous quote by Saint Augustine
You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.
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