Reflections on LifeSample

Our foundation of Truth

Planet Earth has been through some shaking in recent times, wouldn’t you agree? Not only that, but many of us will also have come up against unexpected challenges in our personal journeys that have rocked the ground beneath our feet. For you, it might be financial difficulties, a relational breakdown, or the resurfacing of hurts from the past. Or maybe – like me – you’re facing a significant health challenge, a prognosis you didn’t see coming.

So often, our first reaction is: “What’s going on?” And that’s a very natural, human way to feel. But did you know that storms reveal your foundation? There is an enemy who’ll try and use times of uncertainty to magnify anxiety into doubt and fear; twisting things that sound like they’re true, seeking to divert us from the purposes of God. God's Word breeds faith, it doesn’t breed fear. Anything that brings fear is not of Him. Faith in who God is and in the truth of His Word will anchor us on a firm foundation.

Psalm 91:4 tells us: “His truth shall be your shield.” But did you realise that, unless there’s personal alignment, truth remains disengaged? Just sitting in church and listening to a message – even believing what we’ve heard – is not enough. We need to take the things we hear on a Sunday and personally activate them; to allow the truth of God to become our rock, to settle in our hearts that we know what we know, before the shaking comes.

During the past year I had to undergo a course of radiation for brain cancer. The doctors had to construct a mask that would stabilise my head during the treatment. It’s basically a flat sheet of plastic which was heated, bent over my face, then bolted down onto the table to stop my head from moving. As with any procedure, there are risks involved, and the doctors were doing their job by explaining them to me. But I had to choose not to let that hold me under a restriction of fear, but rather to stabilise myself in the truth of God's Word: “Because he has set his love upon Me … I will be with him in trouble … With long life I will satisfy him” (vv. 14-16 NKJV).

Prayer:

Father God, when we find ourselves in a season of shaking, help us not to let the enemy use that to trip us up or dim our light. Remind us that we are under Your shadow, that Your truth is our shield against fear. As we take refuge in You, as we make Your Word our foundation, we know that You are a deliverer, a restorer, a healer. We put our trust in Your Almighty name and Your salvation. Amen.