Melbourne was struck by an earthquake on Tuesday night. The HBC Ministry Leadership Team were meeting at my home and we were deep in discussion, when suddenly the whole house started shaking. People out in the La Trobe Valley would have felt it even more than those of us in the suburbs. Earthquakes are a very rare event in Victoria, and this was the largest for over 100 years. God was gracious to Melbourne and basically no damage has been reported. Some people’s homes are totally destroyed by earthquakes. Many people’s lives are lost in earthquakes.
We have absolutely no control over the movement of the earth’s plates. We’re helpless. The five of us sat there while the house was shaking, and there was absolutely nothing we could do! What an extraordinary feeling it is to be at the mercy of something bigger than yourself. An event like a natural disaster should remind us how puny we humans are. In Mathew 7:24-27, Jesus tells us that we must build our house upon solid foundations. He explains that we must hear his words, and then act on them. We are helpless without God, and Jesus is our only hope for redemption. “The winds beat and blew on that house, but it did not fall,” Jesus says. Why? The wise man “built his house upon the rock.” Jesus is that rock.
May this earthquake remind Melbournians that they must build their house upon a strong foundation. May this unusual and unnerving experience of the earth shaking beneath our feet drive us to the true Rock, Jesus Christ.
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