When the Foundation Crumbles

Monday, August 8, 2022

I trust in the Lord for protection.  So why do you say to me, “Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety!  The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings.  They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right.  The foundations of law and order have collapsed.  What can the righteous do?”  But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven.  He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth. The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.  He hates those who love violence.  He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds.  For the righteous Lord loves justice.  The virtuous will see his face.  Psalm 11:1-7

The Psalmist, King David, writes of a time when the foundations of civilized behavior, governed by law and order, crumbles, and those who cherish peace in the absence of fear, cannot believe what their eyes are seeing.  What was being seen in that day was weapons drawn, ambush from secret places. 

What David describes is much like our day (and every day when human hearts run amuk), bullets flying, and even when they’re not flying, the threat of violence is enough to unnerve even the John Wayne types among us.  Danger, betrayal, bullying, and destruction are building a legacy of shame on God’s creation, with the collapse of everything that is holy, snatching-away the innocence of complete generations.  The false prophets of our day proclaim peace when there is none.  It's as if Ezekiel’s words are today’s news headlines:

…these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash!  Ezekiel 13:10

It’s a simple conclusion about where the building is headed once the foundation starts crumbling; everything fine and beautiful has a date with the executioner. 

You can tell by what David wrote that he wasn’t impressed with a state of lawlessness and its accompanying bleak outlook; he says:  Don’t look at the biggest mountain for me to hide behind.  That’s not my base of faith; I’m trusting in God, Who will eventually vindicate everything He’s declared.  Wicked brutality will have its end in judgment, overcome by the worthy righteousness of the Lord.

For You Today

As you look around at today’s violence in the land, and all the futile attempts to escape the judging hand of God, you will sense the Enemy…Satan and all the forces of Hell and evil…are offering a way to scramble to the top of the heap.  All you have to do is give-in to power plays, and siding with the winning political party, or financial group, or whatever trend of social engineering is popular.

A wee reminder from the preacher:  Don’t worry about the foundation of this world’s systems crumbling – don’t buy into popular trends and promises of peace, security and financial well-being; trust in God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic explore some of these:  Collapsed Foundations and Violence in the Land  Part 1 and Part 2  

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©