Today’s readings begin with the story of Abram & Sarai and their inability to have children.  While this story on the surface touches upon the heartaches many today have experienced in their dream of becoming parents, it perhaps leads us to a much more universal truth – the importance of obediently pursuing God’s perfect will for our life.

Abram certainly was a man of God.  He had  followed the Lord’s direction to return to the land of Canaan.  I am confident he was filled with awe and joy when God promised to bless him - specifically God’s promise that his off-spring would receive the land and that all people would be blessed through him.   However, even after receiving this direct message from God,  Abram failed over and over again to stay in God’s will for his life.  Consequences were suffered when he and  Sarai cooked up a plan to protect themselves from the Pharaoh in Egypt.  He apparently had forgotten God’s earlier promises.  Amazingly in today’s reading in Genesis, we find that Abram and Sarai once again had lost faith that  God could indeed fulfill His promises to them.  From human logic, they had waited a long time for children and were becoming more impatient with each passing year - so they stepped in to try to help God out.  The plan that they developed may have seemed logical from earthly standards, but it overlooked the fact that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD !  Much suffering and unintended consequences resulted from the implementation of their plan.

Now that speaks directly to me.  Patience certainly is not my strong suit.  I find myself far too often trying to “help out” God by coming up with my solution to challenges in my life.  I so easily forget that He is always at my side and that His plan for my life is so much better than anything I could ever dream up.  I tend to put “limits on what I think God is capable of accomplishing” – as I write this, that single statement is just so embarrassingly false that I cannot believe I could ever think or act as if it were true.

The Responsorial Psalm reminds us of the “mighty deeds of the Lord” and further reinforces the wisdom of living our lives for the Lord.  The Alleluia verse in John’s Gospel strongly reinforces this theme of keeping God’s word – trusting completely in the God who loves us.

So now we arrive at the pinnacle of this message.  In today’s Gospel lesson in the book of Matthew, Jesus clearly reminds us that thinking we are doing God’s will is not the same as actually following God’s will.  We are required to carefully and faithfully “listen” to Jesus’ commands  and “ACT” upon them.  This requires work and diligence in studying God’s Word and constantly praying for His will to unfold in our lives.  The story of the consequences of building our house upon a rock versus building it upon shifting sand seems so obvious.  Yet Jesus used this simple story to remind us how easy it is for us all to try to do things our way (shifting sand) instead of trusting in the unshakable foundation of God’s amazing plan for each of our lives.

Dear Heavenly Father, I see it played out so often in my life.  Your plan is infinitely better than anything I could ever imagine.  Help me to patiently keep my focus upon you through all of life’s challenges and to trust in the reality of your never failing presence and your amazing love for me.  Help me to diligently pursue your truth each and every day.

In the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.