How do we react when everything collapses? Many of us have faced personal tragedy and struggles or economic difficulties. We live in a scary and unstable world and the unexpected is always just around the corner. Isaiah likens God to a fortress and insists that we are safe and secure within it. God is mightier than any earthly difficulty or negative force. How do we enter that fortress? Only by faith, which is another word for absolute trust. God will never let us down.

God helps us but also expects us to do our part. Jesus revealed to us many spiritual principles that can transform us and build our character and our soul. We find out what we are made of when challenges and difficulties come our way. If our religious commitment has only been superficial - if we have been content with just a lot of pious talk - then we will collapse like the house built on sand in the story. But if we have taken the Lord's teachings and put them into practice in our daily lives we will be able to withstand anything. We too will become a rock and fortress! Our time on earth is a period of soul building and character formation - let us not waste the opportunities that are given to us each day to practise what we have been taught.