When I was a young girl my Dad showed me how to balance each card out of a deck of cards to make a ‘house’. It took some practice, but I got quite good at it! I could stack layers of cards one upon another until my ‘house’ became a tower. I think I can remember one time using all of the cards and starting another deck. It was almost as tall as me before I made a mistake and it all crumpled and fell!

I noticed that an old deck of cards was more likely to be able to stand rather than a brand new one. New cards were all shiny and slippery, but the older ones were more weathered and less likely to budge or slip under the weight of the cards on top of them.

Had I have known the things I do today, I believe I would have been more than amused, because even when I was so young, I would have loved to learn something about the heart of God, and His interest and love towards a little person like me.

The Lord Jesus taught us something about the wisdom of building wisely … especially when it comes to building our lives, and what material is used in doing so.

It would appear by reading those words that the rains will descend, the floods will come, and the winds will blow, no matter who we are or what our foundations are. This is what life is like for everyone in differing measures. It is certain that seasons of adversity will come.

But what enables our lives to be like a solid house rather than like a house of cards? Surely it has everything to do with the foundations upon which we are building!

I have always been rather interested in construction, and seeing as there is a lot of it going on where I live, I am familiar with the importance of digging down and preparing a good, solid foundation. Without this the building will have no stability, no matter how elaborate it appears to be.

Of course, those of us who ‘filled with joy and peace in believing’ in the Lord Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, know that He is the Rock upon which our faith can safely rest, and the Rock upon which to build our lives.

For those yet to bow the knee and trust in Him, I believe some are learning that there is a lot of sand out there, and no stability wherever they look … until they look ‘up’!

Seated in heavenly places is a Man who lives in the power of an endless life. He paid the highest price that could be paid to redeem lost sinners from a hopeless future, to all of the joys there are to be found in a sweet fellowship and walk with God in perfect peace.

Life is changing at a fast pace. Governments are changing from one set of principles to another, going from left to right as a new leadership gains establishment. Thankfully amidst the chaos there appears to be a small reprieve. Maybe this is the last opportunity to do what is right before everything collapses in this sad old world, which is fast heading for judgement.

In the events that have arisen since 20th January, many are attempting to settle themselves down at last, but they don’t realise this is a false sense of security. Many are relying on somebody else for the hope they have been longing for, which is in itself as foolish as building ‘houses of cards’ that can and will very easily collapse with devastating loss in the not too distant future!

We cannot and must not build our hopes and lives upon a new Government or its leaders, or our own efforts and abilities.

God will richly reward our implicit trust in Him, and in Him alone. And in doing so He will give the ability to stand fast in the midst of all that would otherwise send us crashing down like a flimsy house of cards with the slightest disturbance, or that house built on sand that will wash away with the rains, floods and winds of adversity that will surely come.

Trust in Him with your soul for eternity, and trust Him with your life for here and now, because He will not and cannot disappoint.