One night when I was in college, a Christian friend and I had the pleasure of having a conversation with a non-Christian friend of mine which lasted until 4:00 in the morning.  While it was an enlightening discussion and a wonderful witnessing experience, there was one point that made me stop and think.  I asked the non-Christian, when he alluded to his current state of searching for the Answer, “What do you stand on?”  After he gave me an explanation, I stopped and thought, “Well, what do I stand on?”

Constantly in this world, we are bashed by the rains and waves of sin and temptation, hounded by the winds of evil and suffering.  We try to establish ourselves a place to stand on this earth, only to be struck again and again by depression, anger, pain, unease, and weariness.  And most of all, our sinfulness.  In all of this trouble and torment, what do we stand on?

In Matthew 7:24ff, Jesus tells the story of the wise and foolish builders.  These two guys each built a house; one built on the rock and the other on sand.  The rains and winds came and beat the house on the rock, but it stood straight and tall, and did not fall.  The other house on sand fell to the ground, because it had no firm foundation.  Jesus says in this passage that all who follow Him and His Word are like the wise man who built on the rock.

We stand on the Rock that is the Lord.  Isaiah 26:4, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”  We stand on God and His Promises, the Hope of now and our future years.  We stand on Christ Jesus and His Victory over sin and death.

When the world pulls at us, trying to bring us down into it’s hopeless depths, remember the Psalmist’s words in Psalm 40:2, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”  We have the contentment and satisfaction of knowing that we stand on a Rock which can never be broken.  The Rock that will never succumb to the evil of this world.  It is our strength and refuge.

The next time I ask myself, “What do you stand on?” I know my answer.

Read also:  Psalm 31, 61, and 62, Matthew 16:13-20 (Peter’s answer is the Rock), 1 Peter 2:4-12.