AND THE RAINS CAME

I was standing at the window yesterday as the steady, torrential downpour relentlessly beat every surface of the earth and soaked our animals to the skin.  The ponds and the ditches overflowed and puddles became small lakes. We always have to watch the sheep carefully when large areas of standing water develop in their pasture.  They will not willingly cross any large body of water-no matter how shallow. Sometimes they are trapped by their own fear of the unknown. 
A verse from Matthew chapter 7 came to me as I was standing there at the window.  “THEREFORE, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them shall be like a wise man who built his house on the Rock, and the rain came down and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the Rock.”
I have heard many a preacher talk about how we are to build our houses on the Rock.  We receive such sermons determined that we will build on that solid foundation.  How do we do this?  What is Yeshua talking about when He tells us to build on this Rock?  He isn’t speaking of Himself, or He would have said so.  The clue is in the first word of this verse-THERFORE.  When we read “Therefore” in Scripture, it means that the next thing said is based completely on what was spoken previously.  Matthew Chapter 5, known at the Sermon on the Mount, was the beginning of Yeshua’s teaching.  He enumerates a good summary of what is written in the Torah.  However, he not only enumerates it, he urges us to go beyond what is written.  He urges us to reflect the loving light of Torah observance by doing more than minimum requirements.  Torah is the Rock we are to build our houses on.  He is giving a thorough life lesson, and exposing the Father’s heart and His code of conduct we should be living by.  When we follow the instruction manual, we have no worries.  Yeshua, Himself, assures us of this when he reminds us not to worry about our lives any more than the lilies of the fields and the birds do.
Does Yeshua promise if we follow Torah and live our best life, giving and serving others, that we will be stress free with no problems?  Absolutely not!  The above verse tells us metaphorically rain and floods will come, and we will feel beaten up.  Use Torah as foundation of your house so you do not fall, just as Yeshua tells us to do.  Seek and you shall find!  Live your best life by living under His Covenant.  Don’t be trapped by your own fears of the unknown.
I look out over the dreary, barren winter landscape and trust that spring will blossom forth soon.  Our lives have the same ebb and flow.  Trust Him for spring.