Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Anyone who’s ever done building of any kind will tell you that it’s critical to establish a firm foundation or the building will have problems. In early times, a cornerstone was established. It was the largest, best squared, and most level stone because all the other stones were positioned based on the corner stone. All the building, to the very pinnacle of the roof, rested and anchored on this cornerstone. Get it wrong and the whole building turned out wrong.
Isaiah 28:16 says – Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. God gave us an anchor in Jesus. He promised this hundreds of years before Jesus came. Acts 4:11 calls Jesus the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ When we believe, our core will not be disturbed.
Satan is interested in small shifts. If he can get us to make small shifts in our foundation, he knows that our very soul will eventually collapse. If he can get us to shift our moral stance on the value of human life, the sanctity of marriage, the dignity and respectability of all human beings, the worship of possessions, the value we place on our family, and where we focus our time, he knows this shift in our moral foundation is enough that we will eventually fall into everything the world suggests.
Depending on the suggestion of the world to provide an anchor for our soul is like tying our boat to a piece of driftwood adrift on an angry sea. We’ll drift wherever the world is drifting, tossed about at each waves mercy, waking every morning not knowing where the boat has drifted, and never knowing when we might run aground or hit underwater hazards.
When Jesus was confronted with evil, He stood on the rock of scripture. When challenged by those who demanded He follow the “world view”, He quoted scripture. He knew that His foundation was to be found in the unchanging truth of God.
We cannot change the sea, but we can choose our anchor. We cannot calm the waves, but we can choose our shelter. We cannot control the currents, but we can choose whether we follow the drift. Satan is into small shifts. In those, he can get us out of square, cause our soul to lean, and eventually pull us down into confusion and despair.
A few years ago, NASA crashed a satellite into Mars. Everyone was shocked. It was later determined that an engineer used a metric measurement in the computer program which was only slightly less than an inch. Over millions of miles on the way to Mars, this small change caused the satellite to be miles closer than mission control thought. The satellite hit the planet instead of going into orbit miles above it. A small change made a big $280 million difference.
The world says, “Set yourself free, trust in me.” God says, “Trust Me, I will set you free.” Adrift or Anchored – everyday we choose. Never underestimate the impact of a small shift.