If the foundations are destroyed…

If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do? The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. – Psalm 11v3-4

I recently preached on this passage and I was impressed by the timeliness of its message. ‘If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’

It does seem, in many ways, that we have seen a destruction of the foundations of western culture. There was a time, not too long ago, when there a generally accepted consensus of right and wrong. Most people in western countries agreed that certain actions were wrong and many passed laws to protect this sense of right and wrong. It gave believers a sense of comfort and security. It was nice. Society was in many ways compatible with our believers.

However in the last number of years things have changed. Standards of right and wrong have seemingly been wiped out of our public consciousness. Everything that was once stable is now under threat. Family, church, and state all seem to be on unstable footing.

Where does this leave us? It might leave us in fear and doubt. The church has lost her friends on the outside. We can no longer depend on society to help us in our cause.

So what can we do?

Spurgeon put it this way –

[David] could brave the dangers, could escape the enemies, and defy the injustice which surrounded him. His answer to the question, “What can the righteous do?” would be the counter-question, “What cannot they do?” When prayer engages God on our side, and when faith secures the fulfilment of the promise, what cause can there be for … There is no such word as “impossibility” in the language of faith; that martial grace knows how to fight and conquer, but she knows not how to flee.

At times like this, when the false foundations are all broken down, we have our opportunity to shine. Those foundations were not rock solid anyway. There is only one real Foundation and that is found in Christ. No matter what foundations are gone, our Foundation stands secure!

Paul assured Timothy with these words – ‘Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."’

So what can the righteous so when the foundations are destroyed? We can ‘depart from iniquity’ as Paul puts it.

Spurgeon’s ‘Treasury of David’ summarises this nicely.

“If all earthly things fail, and the very state fall to pieces, what can we do? We can suffer joyfully, hope cheerfully, wait patiently, pray earnestly, believe confidently, and triumph finally.”