Psalm 11 – If the Foundations are Destroyed?
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
In the Lord I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do? (verses 1-3)
We are seeing what looks like more and more foundation cracks in our culture as it relates to our families, our churches, our cities, and our nation. I have been reflecting lately about the foundations of our nation and how when the foundations of a culture become shattered, we must create a plan to re-establish them or build elsewhere again.
We all mourn when we see a ministry fall, a church close, a school go bankrupt, or an institution that we love falter. Recently as COVID-19 has hit our churches and the doors have closed for many for an extended period - we have seen a shifting in the patterns of Americans. Statistics are already showing the propensity of people to start justifying their lifestyles of staying home versus going back to church. Many churches will falter and fail because of this.
This past weekend – I participated in a Jewish conference where Christians and Jews talked together about the faltering of our American institutions like our churches, schools, and higher education systems. There is increasing shifting in the foundations of American society concerning Biblical truths, an intolerance of others who we disagree with, and a tendency to not push back on false narratives out of fear.
American colleges are feeding students socialism, “woke-ism”, anti-Americanism, and even in some places - anti-Semitism. Christian parents are trying to decide what to do with their kids – take out loans to go to a private Christian university, encourage them not to go to college at all, or send them into secular systems prepared with apologetic classes and years of debate. It is extremely hard for deeply religious people to handle and navigate.
One of the points brought up by one of the Jewish educators at this conference was – the Jews have always been marginalized or a small percentage of the population – so they always had to think outside the box in our society. They responded in many ways by strengthening their families, creating more institutions that taught their heritage to their children, and funding projects that worked to protect their freedoms. Christians have not felt that same amount of pressure in American life until recently. Now we are feeling that marginalization happening in our post-Christian world.
Now we must analyze the ramifications in our nation of “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
What do we do when our public schools are failing our kids?
What do we do when we are losing kids out of our youth groups and churches in droves?
What do we do when statistics of divorce in Christian homes is the same as in the world?
We either must work to restore the foundations in the same places or build again in another way or another place. As Christian leaders – we need to always be thinking about this problem and how to solve it. We can’t stop though. We are the foundation builders.
This statement that “they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart,” addresses the threat of the wicked on our lives today.
How do we respond when someone tells rumors about us behind our backs?
How do we respond when we are looked at as naïve, uneducated, or uncompromising because of our beliefs in God and Jesus being the only way to heaven?
Notice here that they shoot “secretly”. They do not want to show us their hand and come out in the open.
Many days and hours are spent trying to silence Christians, keep us distracted, or dismantle our institutions. It is a fearful time where the “upright” need to seek God for wisdom even more than ever. We must be the foundation builders.
The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup. (verse 4-6)
God sees everyone, but the question is – how is He seeing us?
This scripture says - He is TESTING us or HATING us.
I do not know about you, but I would much rather be tested than hated.
“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.” Proverbs 17:3
We have talked about this every time the term righteous is mentioned in the Psalms so far, but righteous, being in right standing with God, is only accomplished by accepting the righteousness of Jesus through His blood. Salvation and coming into God’s righteousness is not complicated or hard – but it is NECESSARY.
God uses testing in our lives to produce the fruit of His righteousness and to make us profitable for His work. His plans for us are not limited to what we can accomplish in our flesh and our own abilities – He wants His glory to be revealed through us. This takes testing and crushing. Something that none of us like to experience; but will produce a great fragrance of His presence.
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” I Peter 4:12-13
Trials produce His glory AND exceeding joy.
The story goes that two young Moravians in the 1700’s felt a calling to a certain island to share the gospel to those who had never heard about Jesus. They couldn’t figure out how they would get there, so they sold themselves into slavery for passage.
As the ship was pulling away from the dock – one of the young men shouted, “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”
When we think about stories about this – our sufferings seem small in comparison. Trials, testing, and acts of obedience during hard times are not always fun – but they will give Him glory.
Let’s go on to verse 6 – the subject that no one wants to talk about – HELL. I guarantee that it was in the minds and hearts of those Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery to redeem others.
There is a downplaying of hell in the American church right now – but it is real, and it is a place where the unrighteous will go. God’s wrath must be quenched.
“For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.” (verse 7)
Believe me - God does not want to HATE anyone. He is a God of love. His character IS righteousness, so because of that fact – He hates unrighteousness. Righteousness and unrighteousness cannot cohabitate.
The beauty of the gospel story is that God created a plan to redeem us all, if we will only accept Jesus’ love, sacrifice on the cross, and His way of escape. He does not desire anyone to go to hell.
The foundations of the church, even in our beliefs of heaven and hell, are being dismantled and we must know the Word of God and what we believe about the gospel. Our commitment to repairing those foundations will be determined by the work of God that we allow in our hearts and lives.
Just as the Moravians cried out – “the lamb will receive the reward of His suffering” – they laid down their lives to see foundations built in others. Don’t give up! God is using us even now in our churches, our schools, our workplaces, our political systems, and our communities to build back the foundations of our culture through the Word of God. Let us not compromise the truth and walk boldly in His righteousness.
If the foundations are destroyed – what do the righteous do?
We build. And ask God to pour out His glory through our lives.
Join us Monday mornings for our WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY
Watch the video or listen to the audio of our Psalm 11 study HERE
Have our resources been a blessing to your life? Would you consider partnering with us as a monthly donor to help us expand our reach? Or maybe a generous one-time donation?