Barriers need a foundation

Sin cannot offer security! But if you live right, you will be as secure as a tree with deep roots. (Proverbs 12:3)

Security is really feeling like you are in a place where the "risks" are minimized - steps have been taken to reduce the possibility of something happening.  This is why those folks install locks, buy security doors, install cameras, and put bars on the windows - to minimize the risks. I want to challenge us to begin to think of security as not just minimization of risk, but the deep sense of confidence which comes from knowing we have a good foundation to whatever it is we are trusting in. If the foundation is faulty, then everything else is just not going to cut it when it comes to keeping us safe. Too many times we find ourselves setting out to accomplish one thing that we think will add security to our lives, but our "foundation" is just not secure!

Sin doesn't offer us much security in life, even though it appears to be something which would stand up to the pressure.  Sin has a way of convincing us we are on "solid footing".  I am not quite sure how that happens, but somehow we get to the place of thinking we are going to be "okay" even if we pursue some pretty "shady" stuff in life.  In fact, sometimes we think we are minimizing the risk we will give into temptation by some weirdly concocted plan, but we forget the plans are only good as the foundation onto which they are attached!  God's plan includes us getting rooted into a solid foundation by digging deeply into his word and then allowing it to get deeply into us.  As a tree sets down roots, it "takes into it" the things in which those roots are situated.  If the roots are deeply rooted, it also has a more solid hold against the things which would seek to uproot it.

To live right includes this idea of taking root and then continuing to "take root". If you look at the trees in my backyard, you will see they are kind of "limited" to the backyard.  Or at least you might think!  I have had to dig up sprinkler lines or dig holes for new trees I planted in my yard over the years.  In doing this digging, I came to discover roots from trees behind my property are invading the space known as "my yard"!  From all directions, roots are found coming into and going out of my yard.  Some belong to those trees I planted, while others belong to trees clearly outside the boundaries of my property!  I thought those "native" trees planted along the street behind my fence line were on "that side of the fence".  After a little digging, it was clear they were seeking out the water I provided!  No wonder they grow so well!  They are thieving the water I put down for my one developed tree and the two I have grown from seed!  

Sin is kind of like that - it invades territory we "think" is clearly delineated as "ours", taking every effort to mark out as ours (like I thought the fence did in my yard).  What we don't realize is how much what we believe to be security is really just a "partial barrier" of sorts and not really security.  Only God can give us the security against sin we so desperately need.  Unless we "tap into" his foundation, we have nothing more than "partial barriers" with which to resist temptation.  Just sayin!