Foundations
Psalm 11:1-4 says, “IN the LORD put I my trust: How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? 2. For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. 3. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? 4. The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.”
David wrote this Psalm while he was on the run from King Saul. In the midst of the spiritual battle, we’re helpless against the powers of darkness, against “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that woks in the children of disobedience. Our adversary is in hot pursuit. To whom do we look for our help?
Oswald Chambers said that a crisis is a situation that has reached a critical stage. This unstable situation will result in catastrophic failure unless God’s people take immediate corrective and preventive action. God will allow a nation built upon the wrong foundations to crumble and fall. However, God gives his people a point of decision — an inflection point to change direction and turn their hearts back to the Lord. According to verse 4, God is in his holy temple. He has not moved. God is faithful to His word for His word liveth and abideth forever.
What can the righteous do if the foundation is destroyed?
In 2 Tim o thy 2:19, Nevertheless the sure foundation of the Lord stands. Regardless of the culture wars and the world’s insistence on so-called “political correctness,” God’s righteous standard is his Word of truth. Jesus Christ, the word of God made flesh is our sure foundation and our chief cornerstone.
The men who wield the powers of this world are not the enemy. The adversary holds ungodly men captive at his will. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high.
According to. Psalm 127:1, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. 1 Peter 4 says that Judgement starts in the house of the Lord. That which can be shaken will be shaken. According to Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Jesus Christ himself is the rock, the chief cornerstone, the firm foundation of our faith.
Peter said, we should obey God rather than men. What is it that you value most? It’s not about the cost, it’s about the value. We pursue that which we value. Jesus, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus valued our redemption and this was his joy and rejoicing, the purpose for which he was called.
According to 2 Timothy 3, in the last days, men shall be lovers of sin, self, pride and pleasure, rather than lovers of God and his truth. These earthly values undermine a once-strong civilization and precede the catastrophic failure of every great civilization that has fallen into ruin.
Psalm 121 says, “shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord that made heaven and earth. He shall not suffer thy foot to be moved. Yea, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
To seek refuge in the Lord, means to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. He alone is our refuge and strength. Jesus said, “if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you shall bear much fruit.”
It seems as if the enemy doesn’t play by the “rules of the game.” Righteousness is bound by truth, whereas the wicked, because they’re wicked, disregard the rules. When a nation’s judges are devoid of righteous judgement; when the legislators and executives forsake God’s righteous standards, acquiesce to the world’s ungodly standards, and call good evil and evil good, there is no foundation of truth and the nation is bound to fall. As individuals and as nations, the choice is truth or consequences.
Our God is a consuming fire. We should not be intimidated and shaken by the affairs of this world that are undermining the foundations upon which our country was built — one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.
A warriors ethos says, “I will always place the mission first. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.” The question is, what is it that you value? The ethos is a vow that I will be a better man to uphold values that transcend my own self-serving pride. Life is hard, the enemy’s onslaught is relentless, but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
We have the legacy of Christ in us the hope of glory. In the midst of the spiritual battle, the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. Martin Luther understood what it means to stand on the firm foundation when he posted the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. This defiant act started the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther knew that the leaders of the Roman church had vowed to take his life. After meditating on the word of the Lord Luther took comfort in the words of Psalm 91. After meditating on these words, Luther penned the words to the great hymn of the faith, A mighty fortress is our God:
A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God’s own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same;
and he must win the battle.
That Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!
Abraham Lincoln said, The question is not if God is on our side but rather if we are on God’s side. For if God be for us who can be against us?
The Lord is our sure foundation… that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
