It was early one morning at Bainbridge Hospital when a call came to my cell phone.  It was my wife calling to let me know that we had a crisis at home—a crisis, but thankfully not a real emergency.

She explained to me that the door to our oldest granddaughter’s bedroom was locked and they could not get it unlocked.  I gave a suggestion as to how they might open it, but that failed. 

No one was locked up in the room, so it was not a big deal–with one small exception:  Mallory’s school things were in there (including her shoes and book bag) and it was almost time for her mother to take her to school.  (I suppose every young lady waits until almost leaving time before gathering up such “nonessentials”, or is this problem unique to my family?)

So what was the solution?  I was too far away to get back home quickly and I needed to be at the hospital with the family I had come to check on. 

The problem was beyond my ability to resolve at the moment, but thankfully Mallory was able to borrow a pair of shoes and her teacher was considerate enough to let her in class without her book bag and its necessary contents. 

When it was all said and done, despite a few minutes of tension and frustration as the clock continued to rapidly run down toward time for school and work to begin, everything turned out alright.

As much as I do not like taking blame for things and even though no one told me that this event was my fault, I have to admit that I could have avoided the stress that the incident caused if I had acted on what I was told.  When Gale called and told me what the problem was, I immediately remembered that Mallory had mentioned to me about the locked door the previous night, but I did not do anything about it.  My failure to act promptly produced inconvenience for my family, plus I still had to fix the door anyway.

The Bible views as wise those who hear and do what God instructs, and as foolish the ones who hear what He says but take no action.  Christ compared those who hear His words to builders—those who do what He says are like wise builders, while those who fail to follow His words are like foolish builders.  In Matthew 7, He said, “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” (verse 24, New International Version).  Then in verse 26 He stated, “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 the sand.”  It does not take a construction engineer to realize which of those two structures is most durable.  The wise builder understands the immeasurable value of a solid and enduring foundation.

God’s Word is a dependable foundation for our lives, and when we put It into practice by allowing It to give us guidance, wisdom and direction, we are considered wise in the sight of God.  It is always of great value for everyone of us to pattern our view of God’s Word after that of the Psalm writer:  “Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them”  (Psalm 119:129).  God has lovingly given us His Word; you can only blame yourself if you are not applying it to your life.