The Hard Rock

The parable of the wise man building his house upon the rock while the foolish man built his house upon the sand is not the story of an unforeseeable and unfortunate storm that happened to knock over the foolish man's house while the wise man's house stood still. Christ invites us to build upon His rock but because storms and hard times are a possibility, but because they are a certainty. Hard times come for us all. If we want to survive the hard times, then we need to build our lives on the hard rock. Our Heavenly Father can't stop every storm and flood and fierce wind that comes our way because there are trials and tests that we must face, even if they cause us to shake and tremble because of the pain and the sorrow. What our loving Heavenly Father can do is offer us a hard rock to hold onto during the hard times. When we are filled with the rock hard certainty that God will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able, and that He has sent His Son to be on our right and on our left and to carry us when our strength fails, then the winds may beat upon us and the floods wash over us and yet we will stand still. It takes a lot of work to build our house on the hard rock, and that hard work is by no means wasted when the hard times come anyway, after all of the Commandments and covenants that we have kept, all of the loving service we have done, all of the fasting and praying. We do these things not to prevent the hard times, but to endure and survive and triumph over them. Life won't always be hard, but when it is, it's good to be on the hard rock for the hard times.