Transforming Sand

Matthew 7:24-26

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the lessons that we could learn from these verses. I think I hear something different than I have ever heard. Before, these verses sang of trust and security. Lately, what I am hearing is like a buzzing little gnat asking me how I would know whether my house is on solid rock or sinking sand? It has made me stop and consider, of all things, sand.

According to Ambrose Bierce’s sarcastic definition, Education is “that which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.” Personally, I’ve never been convinced that this definition is sarcastic or a joke.

Proverbs 27:3 says,

A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than both of them.

There are dozens of verses in the bible that create metaphors about sand. Most of them use sand to represent abundance - of sons, wealth, soldiers. Some offer an abundance of good and some do not. But the message in these verses from Matthew and Proverbs seems a little different. They focus our attention on our behavior and the choices we make as we build our home in this world.

Sand is primarily composed of silicon dioxide (which contains silicon and oxygen), the two most common elements of the Earth's crust overall. Sand covers much of the Earth. Sand can be found on beautiful beaches, tropical islands, and in deserts. Sand can be sinking quicksand, or it can be sandstone, quartz, glass, concrete, fiberglass, and microchips.

Sand is common yet miraculous. It is gritty, dirty, and dangerous. It is sparkling, transformative, and life-saving.

I think the buzzing in my ear is the idea that the cultures and religions of the world are like the sands of the Earth. They are what we make of them. As numerous as the grains of sand of the Earth, we are surrounded by numerous cultures and religions both common and pervasive as well as rare and remote.

We can’t change their properties, but we can learn how to work with them. For what are rocks but sand transformed into quartz, sandstone, and manmade rock (concrete)?

Sand can be moved by the wind.

Sand can run through our fingers.

Sand can be moved and shaped by the weight of our steps. 

Sand can make dunes that block our paths.

Sand can make concrete.

It can set our hearts.

When we build the house of our beliefs, when we build the heart of who we are, do we build a fortress of cold hard stone that keeps others out, or do we build a platform from which we can see clearly all that God has made?

When we build our houses, do we carve paths that connect or barricades that exile?

What may seem like a wise choice of strength could be an illusion that slips through our fingers like grains of sand.

Prayer:

My prayer for today is that we stand firm on the rock that is the teaching of Jesus. May we be shaped into sparkling, transformative, and life-giving builders who understand that some strengths are weaknesses and some weaknesses are strengths. May God allow us to learn the difference, Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by Greta Smith.

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