"If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?"
[Psalms 11]
One thing that comes to my mind when looking back this year 2005 is Hurricane Katrina, which came to New Orleans, USA. It is said that this hurricane made about one million New Orleans people to move to other states. There are people who refer to this as "Black Exodus". Why is this great disaster in New Orleans? Many public opinions say that it is because the embankments are not properly built. Two things are surprising: First, in early 2005, the U.S. Army requested $37 million to pay for the New Orleans embankment, but the government cut it to $3.9 million. Another surprising fact is that the New Orleans Embankment Committee bought a casino with money that supposed to be used to manage the embankment. What a sad thing. Because of these two surprising facts, two embankments of the Pontchartrain lake were collapsed by the hurricane, causing water spatter in most parts of New Orleans.
I think about if we have built a good foundation. If we have built the good foundation in our hearts, our homes and churches firmly, then even Hurricane Katrina like storm of sins rush waves at our hearts, our homes and our churches we won’t be shaken and we will be able to protect our hearts, our homes and our churches. But even if we don’t invest in build the strong foundation properly or even if we invest but if we don’t use to build the foundation of our hearts, our homes and our churches, then we have no choice but to fall and break when the wave of sins comes. We should think about the foundation of our hearts, of our homes and of our churches.
When we look at Psalms 11:3, the psalmist David says, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” Here, if we translate the word “the foundations” literally in original Hebrew, it is ‘those foundations.’ And this means ‘justice and truth’ (J. Ridderbos). In other words, when David was being persecuted by Saul, the grounds of justice and truth were collapsed. What about this time in which we live? It's no different. Now we are living in the time where justice and truth have collapsed. How should we live in this time? I want receive two lessons from Psalms 11.
First, in this time when justice and truth collapsed, we must rely more in God.
Look at Psalms 11:1 – “In the LORD I take refuge; How can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain.” David says, “In the Lord I take refuge ….” In other words, when David was persecuted by Saul and his people, David relied on God in time and circumstance where justice and truth cannot be found. Because he relied on the Lord in the midst of suffering and persecution, he was able to feel safe because of God (Park). But what's interesting here is a suggestion of David's friends. They suggested David to “Flee as a bird to your mountain” (v. 1). The reason was because the wicked bend the bow and made ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart (v. 2). That was a really persuasive advice. Because the wicked were trying to harm the righteous David, David’s friends encouraged David to flee to the mountain as if the bird was flying to the mountain bush. However, David didn’t accept the persuasive advice of his friends and fled to the Lord. This was because David rely only on the Lord.
If we are in danger like David, we must think about how we will respond. Indeed, we must choose whether to take refuge in the Lord and get a sense of security from Him, or listen to the advice of our friends to flee to the mountain and rely on something other than the Lord to enjoy a sense of security there. We already know the answer. We know that there is no real sense of security if we depend on someone else or anything other than the Lord. Relying on someone/other besides the Lord may give you a momentary sense of security, but there will be no peace and security that only the Lord can give. That’s why we should take refuge in the Lord. The Lord alone is our stronghold and the One in whom we should take reguge. Especially, in this time when the foundation of justice and of truth is collapsed, we must rely on the God of justice and of truth, so that we can enjoy true protection and security.
Second and last, in this time when justice and truth collapsed, we must walk the way of righteousness.
Why should we walk the way of righteousness? This is because God is righteous and loves righteousness. Look at Psalm 11:7 – “For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.” We who are justified and who also love righteousness must walk the way of righteousness faithfully. Especially, the more urgent we are, the more we must defend the way of righteousness to the last (Park). Indeed, the day of God's judgment is near. We live in time when darkness is extreme and sin is prevalent. d
In this time when the forces of darkness are tempting “the upright in heart” (v. 2) and trying to make them to leave the way of righteousness anyway possible and making them to walk the sinful way, it is great challenge for us who are upright (v. 7) to faithfully walk the way of righteousness until the end. Especially in this time when the foundation of justice and truth have collapsed, it is a great challenge to be upright in heart, love the righteous way and walk that way to the end.
We are living in an age where the path of evil can be seen and heard so well even if we look at the north, sought, east and west. Therefore, it is impossible without relying on the Lord to walk alone in the narrow and difficult path of righteousness. It is a lonely path and the way the Lord has walked. David was able to walk this way because he believed that the Lord whom he relied on was seeing both the righteous and the wicked (vv. 4-7). In particular, David knew that God, who looked deeply at the wicked ["His eyes behold" (v. 4)] and who hates the one who lovs violence (v. 5), will judge them at the Lord’s time (v. 6). In the midst of that, David also believed that “the Lord tests the righteous (v. 5). In other words, God tests him first before helping the righteous. God tests the righteous whether our hearts is upright (v. 2), whether we are upright (v. 7). God also helps him if he passes after testing him to see if he completely relies on God. David relied entirely on God and his heart was upright and he was upright. That was why he was able to get helped by God.
This time in which we live is when justice and truth have collapsed. Even if we see ourselves as self-proclaimed Christians, the foundation of justice and truth in our hearts have collapsed too much. It seems that the foundation of our home and of our church are collapsing. How should we live in this time? We must rely more and more on our God and build the foundation of our hearts, our homes, of justice and truth in our churches firmly. Indeed, that foundation should be strong and firm so that ourselves, our homes, and our church should be firmly built by the Lord. Then we can be safe even if there is wave like hurricane of sin. We must continue to walk the path of righteousness faithfully. Although the wide path of evil can be seen and heard too much around us, we must walk the narrow path of righteousness. Therefore, we must shine the light of God's justice and truth in this dark world.
Wanting to have complete trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Foundation of us, our homes and our churches,
James Kim
(Praying to walk the way of righteousness faithfully as I rely on God)