Nuggets from Proverbs

Day 7 – How Firm A Foundation

Anyone with even a bit of imagination can visualize the building of a house. It is especially interesting to pull together the verses which deal with this topic. I love to see the “big picture” that God is trying to paint when He refers to our spiritual lives.

Amuse me a bit as I take you along my mental project of house building. I’ve never built a house, but I have watched many a home improvement program to know the process. One of the important factors is having a solid piece of land to lay the foundation on. There’s no sense in laying a foundation on sand – no matter how strong that foundation is, it will crack. A good solid ground, yes even a good solid rock, will hold up the foundation. This is the starting point. A word search on the word foundation in the bible blessed my heart so much.

Here we see that Christ is the Chief Corner Stone (the strongest stone used in a foundation because it unites two sides) of the foundation. The apostles and prophets (the Word of God) make up the rest of the foundation. As we read through these verses, we see that the foundation of those who are saved is eternal because it is the foundation of Jesus Christ. The building materials reflect our spiritual homes as they are built upon the foundation (gold, silver, precious stones or wood, hay and stubble). We should take a moment here to compare this to the quality of building supplies used in building our earthly home… do we use cheap insulation or did we go with the good stuff? When the cold winter winds blow, do we see our curtains moving and drafts coming out of all the cracks? Our house will reflect the time and money we put into building it. Now, what about our spiritual house?

The shell of the house is next – putting up pillars (if that’s your design) – solid load-bearing walls, insulation, drywall, etc. We see that Wisdom’s house in Proverb 9:1 had seven pillars! The number seven in the Bible depicts completion. Creation was finished and God rested on the seventh day. There are seven days in the week. There are seven churches referenced in Revelation, etc. Seven is known as God’s perfect number – the number for completion. Wisdom has seven pillars on her house. The house is perfectly solid – it is complete.

Why would God use this application for wisdom, you may ask? Everyone knows what it’s like to start a new job. Oh the feeling of insecurity we have because we don’t know all the “ins and outs” of that position just yet. Our manager can teach us the various tasks and we can take thorough notes, but until we actually perform those tasks ourselves, we do not have that warm fuzzy feeling of comfort. Each day, we become more and more experienced with the day-to-day tasks at hand. Eventually, we can perform those same tasks with our eyes closed.

This simple example can be applied to our own spiritual lives. When we are saved, we now have the foundation of our spiritual homes. The more we are in the Word of God and apply and practice His teachings in our lives, we are constructing our spiritual homes upon the foundation. If our building materials are weak, we will not weather the storms of life and the devil’s attacks – our house will be shaken – we will fret in times of uncertainty. However, we can start over and rebuild using those materials which are everlasting. Those same storms can come, but this time our house will stand strong and firm! We will know Who to turn to and Who exactly is the One who calms those storms. We will remember the account of when Jesus calmed the storm in Mark 4:35-39 and we will turn to those verses in our Bible and receive comfort from the Lord.

Let’s apply wisdom in our spiritual lives and building upon Christ’s solid foundation. In so doing, we will have precious building materials in our spiritual house which will fair the storms of life.

How Firm a Foundation
By John Rippon

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.