We Are The City Harmonic ናሙና

"Solid Rock"

The story goes that Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, was plowing his fields and accidentally destroyed a mouse nest just moments before penning one of his most famous poems.  The infamous line “the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry,” sums up his poem well:  Regardless of our best efforts and intentions, things in this life are bound to go wrong.  Whatever we might think, however we might plan, we cannot control our circumstances and at some point in life, bad things will happen to us.  As a cancer survivor, I’m speaking from experience here.

There is great comfort in knowing Jesus as a rock, as solid ground that we can trust and build our lives upon.  In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus tells us that wise people build their homes upon a rock rather than sand, so that in times of trial, they will stand.  This beautiful notion steals away our fear and brings hope in the midst of the storm.  I have found incredible moments of peace, calm, and hope in the middle of chaos, suffering, and pain over the years because of Jesus’ presence in my life.   But I don’t think that is the point of this section of scripture.  Though we find them elsewhere in Jesus’ words and actions, these are not words of comfort, but instruction.

The Sermon on the Mount, which this passage is the conclusion to, is difficult to swallow.  Jesus challenges us to flip the natural way of the world on its head by the way we live.  Jesus is commanding a life devoted to living out love and goodness in spite of our circumstances.  And he closes by saying, “if you want to weather the storms of this life, then trust in these words and live by them.”  If we pursue the kind of life that seeks to live by the standards Jesus set before us, we will find ourselves standing firmly on the rock when storms come our way.  

The challenge of living like Jesus may seem insurmountable, but as we focus on spending our lives on loving others by the power of His Spirit - even though in this life, much like Burns’ mouse nest, we might fall apart - by Jesus’ power we will be put back together again. 

-Eric, The City Harmonic