Our Sure Foundation - Part 1

Psalm 11:1-4 “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? The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne

is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”

This week, Micheal writes that Israel's King David wrote this Psalm while he was on the run from King Saul. In the midst of the spiritual battle, we’re helpless against the powers of darkness, against “the prince of the power of the air (the devil), the spirit that works in the children of disobedience”. Our adversary is in hot pursuit. To whom do we look for our help?

Christian writer Oswald Chambers said that a crisis is a situation that has reached a critical stage. This unstable situation will result in catastrophic failure unless God’s people take immediate corrective and preventive action. God will allow a nation built upon the wrong foundations to crumble and fall. However, God gives his people a point of decision — an inflection point to change direction and turn their hearts back to the Lord. According to verse 4, God is in his holy temple. He has not moved. God is faithful to His word for His word lives and abides forever.

What can the righteous do if the foundation is destroyed? In 2 Timothy 2:19, the Apostle Paul tells us, 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.” Regardless of the culture wars and the world’s insistence on so-called “political correctness,” God’s righteous standard, and therefore ours, is his Word of truth found in holy Scripture. Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, is our sure foundation and our chief cornerstone. The men and women who wield the powers of this world are not the enemy. The adversary, the devil, holds ungodly men and women captive at his will. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high.

According to. Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” 1 Peter 4 says that Judgement starts in the house of the Lord. That which can be shaken will be shaken. According to Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Jesus Christ himself is the rock, the chief cornerstone, the firm foundation of our faith.

Peter said, we should obey God rather than men. What is it that you value most? It’s not about the cost, it’s about the value. We pursue that which we value. Jesus, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus valued our redemption and this was his joy and rejoicing, the purpose for which he was called.

Let's continue Michael's message on our sure foundation in the next post.

In Christ, Brian