PSALM 11:1–3 Foundations
READ: PSALM 11:1–3 (HEBREWS 11:1–10) V. 3 “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
We live in a time of great prosperity and technological advancement. We heat and cool our homes with a flip of a switch. We can send messages and documents and photos to one another instantly by smartphone and the Internet. We benefit from immunizations, vaccinations, and other medications that keep us from sicknesses and diseases that killed our ancestors.
In spite of that, people feel less secure and less at peace. The army, police, and secret services need to always be on guard against terrorism. The courts struggle to deal with what is brought before them. Political leaders are confused about what to do, led more by the whims of popular opinion than by principles. Social norms and values that seemed so clear in the past are more and more muddled.
The social and political order, the “foundations” of our Western society, are tottering and crumbling. Many churches have also lost their way and reinterpreted the Bible to accommodate the culture. The result is that they no longer serve as society’s conscience. So we can understand the question posed to David by his advisers as the wicked gain power and influence, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” They advise him to flee, to retreat to a hiding place.
David, however, refuses to run and hide in fear. He decides to stay. And his reason is that he knows the LORD is in his holy temple, on his throne in heaven (v. 4). In other words, he knows that the faithful God of the covenant is still in control and that he is still at work in everything for his purpose.
Right through all the instability around us, God is designing and building the city that has foundations, that city that Abraham also already looked forward to (Heb. 11:10). That city doesn’t only have one foundation, but twelve, on which are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Rev. 21:14). In other words, the gospel of Jesus Christ that the apostles taught is the basis of this precious city. His work of salvation is the solid and secure foundation that has been laid and on which the Lord is building his kingdom—a kingdom that will last forever!
Let’s not despair but let’s do our work in God’s kingdom in quiet confidence. The true foundations will hold.
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