“Childlike Fundamentals” –written Friday November 5, 2021, by Chaplain Tim Nabors.
The Lord protects those of childlike faith… (Psalms 116:6a). I am not talking of childish faith, but the innocence of a child with childlike wonder, amazement, trust, longing, thirst, hunger, and childlike enthusiasm and excitement. Have you ever told your child if they are good, you will get them ice cream after dinner? Well, all the child heard was ICE CREAM. They come to you over and over to tell you they are being good, and they are looking for the reassurance we are going to get ice cream. As the child longs for the ice cream, so we should long for more of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Taking us deeper into the childlike fundamentals of our faith. First, we must start by daily reading, studying, and praying, second, we need to go deeper, and it becomes a habit, and third, we get to the firm foundation, and it becomes a longing to read, study and pray. You can’t wait until the next time.
This week was one of frustration, stress, worry and second guessing my every decision. I was asked to report on the daily work progress of something I do not understand, let alone know what I am looking at or comprehend what they are doing. They gave me a pad with instructions to give a minute-by-minute log of the drilling as the drill goes deeper, “I need you to log the depth, the elevation, the equipment used and material that are extracted”, was my assignment.
It reminded me of the childhood song, “The Wise Man Built His House”. When the water comes in you either stand firm or you go tumbling down. Luke 6:46b, 47 states, “listen to My (Christ) teaching, and then follows it”. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house (or bridge), it stands firm because it is well built. They drilled through the dirt, sand, tan clay, brown clay, the gray clay, and they hit rock. At first the loose small rock and then larger and stronger rock and they hit the bedrock (rock socket). Drilling over 100’ down and over 2’ into the rock (Rock Socket) they found the firm foundation for the bridge. Into the Delaware Blue Rock one of the strongest rocks, to set the foundation for the bridge.
In our spiritual lives we need to continue to drill deeper. When the tides of life beat us down, when things are not going so well, when we are bounced around and feel like we are just being tossed around. Let us slow our life’s pace down and look to the Author of our foundation Jesus Christ. Take the time to stop and get deeply invested in the word and in prayer. Allow the Holy Spirit to intercede and take over our lives. We need to have the ice cream (the Word) before us. We need to drill deeper in prayer, fasting, reading His word, and studying. We need to remember that first love (dirt), the times that we are the witness (sand) and the times we shared our transformation (clay) until we hit the firm foundation (rock) when we allow the Holy Spirt to envelop our lives. “When the earthquakes and its people live in turmoil, the I AM keeps its foundation firm (Psalms 75:3).
We so often miss the fundamental truth He wants us to see because of our rushed schedules. So many times, we try to fight these battles on our own and are tossed about like buoy’s. We need to get back to the basics of life. If you know a little about sports you know when your team is not doing well, you go back to and rework the fundamentals. As for us in our faith sometimes we need to go back to childlike fundamentals. To remember we have the firm foundation in our lives. The bedrock, the Rock Socket, the King, the Lord, The Messiah, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Firm Foundation. Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles, and the prophets, and the Cornerstone is Jesus Christ Himself (Ephesians 2:20). Ask the Holy Spirit to remind us of our spiritual past (the childlike fundamentals with the longing desire to go much deeper.
Chaplain Tim Nabors
