Foundations

A few years ago I wrote a devotion called “Foundations” for the ladies in our church. I remember this topic well, because I wrote it during a challenging season in my life, and God taught me something very precious during that time. I learned that God wasn’t called an Architect and Builder for nothing (Heb 11:10)! Like any good builder, He deemed what was beneath the surface of my life as vital to what He was planning to build on top.

Matthew 7:24-25 says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does 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 beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”

A little internet research on foundations lead me to discover the following interesting information on the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. This building stands at 828 meters high and is twice the height of the renowned Empire State building. It captured several world records, e.g. the tallest man-made structure, the building with the most floors (160+), and fastest elevators (10 meters per second). But although most of the focus is on the height of this lofty structure, the more important fact to consider was what lies beneath this impressive building. The foundation of this building is more than 50 meters deep and it took almost a year just to lay this foundation, using 12 500 cubic meters of concrete weighing about 12 000 tons! The foundation was subjected to rigorous testing, as even the slightest rotation in the foundational structure would be magnified at the top of the structure, with disastrous consequences! (Apparently another building, the Jeddah Tower, will be opening in Saudi Arabia in 2020, exceeding the Burj Khalifa in height by 72 meters!)

At times we wonder why God allows us to go through tough trials, and why He sees fit to prune us in uncomfortable and painful ways. We go through seasons of prayer and fasting, of pressing in and of persevering through difficulties, and yet we do not seem to experience the breakthrough we are trusting for. We spend time with Him and study His Word, stand on His promises, and do everything we know to do, and yet don’t always see the outcome we envisioned. I used to wonder about the reason for this, but I think I have come to understand a little better:

God needs me to have a very deep and solid foundation in order for Him to trust me with the weight of His particular calling on my life. Often, we only realise in hindsight why God was busy excavating such deep foundations in our lives! What seemed to me as time wasted, painful faith & tests and needless tears shed, was to God the laying of a strong foundation, preparing me to be useful and effective in my walk with Him, and preparing me for the calling that has since been unfolding in my life. My foundations need to be deep and solid because, like the Burj Kalifa, the slightest wobble in the foundational structure of my life could impact the way I represent God and His Kingdom in and through my life. Thank goodness I have a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to keep me anchored on the Rock of ages!

I have some really amazing friends who could be classed as “pensioners” because of their age, but boy, are they still active and taking ground for God’s Kingdom, impacting generations and even nations by their ministry! However, should you sit with them and talk about their lives, you will find out that they have all been through some very deep valleys and rigorous testing in their lives. The reason God could entrust them with the influence and spiritual authority they had was because He had dug deep in their lives, and laid solid groundwork to their ministries.

So, if we are going through some rigorous testing, or overwhelming difficulties, we need to take courage and not allow our hearts to grow despondent at our current situation. Let’s not look back and despise the trials that are behind us, or dread what we see ahead of us. Supporting any truly great life is a solid foundation, built on hard work, obedience to God’s Word, faith, perseverance and testing, but even more importantly, built on the Rock! God loves us more than we can imagine and His plans are always to prosper us. He sees the impressive end result when we only see the messy ‘building rubble’ underneath.  Let His truth be our foundation and anchor while He builds our life’s foundation to be strong and unmovable.