If the Foundations be Destroyed
February 17, 2004
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If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3
We lived in Chicago during the time that the Sears Tower was under construction. This was to become the world’s tallest man-made structure at 110 stories and 1,450 feet tall. When you take express elevators to the top, you are momentarily pinned to the floor by an elevator that hurls you along at 1,600 vertical feet per minute.
It is amazing to me that any man would work constructing a building that high in the air. Yet one day I watched a man, via telescope, sitting on a single steel I-beam hanging over the edge of the building near the uncompleted top. He was eating his lunch! Not for me! I don’t even want to work in an office over seven stories.
The Sears Tower’s estimated weight is 222,500 tons which encloses over 100 acres of floor space. Add daily the weight of 10,000 people who work in it and 25,000 visitors. That many people comprises a population that is larger than most of the entire towns of Missouri! How can it stand?
One of the great secrets to this building is that for months and months there was a plywood fence around the construction site and you could see absolutely nothing visibly being done. For months, there was nothing but an ever-increasing hole developing in the ground. Why? Before the first part of the Sears Tower ever broke cover above the street level, a proper foundation had to be laid. They dug down to bedrock. Then massive amounts of concrete and steel were strategically poured into the hole to insure that this Goliath of a building could stand the storms of weather and physics that it would fight during its entire existence.
It is the same with our nation, culture, families and your life. If your life is not on bedrock, it will fail. For a nation or culture to survive, they too must have foundations on solid rock. The world’s greatest civilizations have first fallen from within and then succumbed to outside conquerors.
Today, our country is at a crossroads as to its historic and biblical foundations. The foundations of the United States were clearly established by our Founding Fathers on a Christian world-life view. In fact, the first thirteen colonies/states of the United States each had clauses in their original charters that required any public office holder to be an evangelical Christian. To deny that this country was founded on Biblical principles and Christianity is simply to ignore history and source documents. My, how far our nation has moved from its foundations.
This past week, activist judges decided that gay marriage in Massachusetts is legal. Someone may say, “You can’t legislate morality!” My friend, morality is the only thing you can legislate. That is what law is. The question is which group’s morality is legislated.
The foundations of our culture were laid at great cost by our forefathers. They pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor for us. We have enjoyed the blessings of God because of those foundations. But … If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
First, be sure your life is firmly anchored on the bedrock of Christ. Second, engulf yourself in the Word of God. Know the real thing so well that you will immediately recognize the counterfeits. Third, apply the truths to your everyday life … especially at the ballot box! Don’t vote for the man who can give you the most dollars for your pocket; vote for men who will keep the foundations strong. Elect men of godly character. If there aren’t any, then run for office. And finally, impeach (which is a recall of) activist judges like the ones in Massachusetts.
What happens when the foundations are destroyed in a culture? It can and will affect YOUR home. Last Thursday I attended a meeting. One gentleman gave us a tearful and heart crushing testimony. He asked us for special prayer. He has a grown son who was raised in a Southern Baptist pastor’s home and faithfully was in church all his life. He was then sent to be educated in a Baptist College … and there, his developing foundations were destroyed by professors who taught him evolution and humanism. The young man became so embittered at his Christian heritage that at one point in his life he even tried to “divorce” himself from his family. He has practiced all sorts of other religions, looking for foundations. The foundations his parents tried to guide him with were shattered.
Dear ones, solid foundations give you the strength to stand in adversity. Like the Sears Tower. When the winds across Lake Michigan reach over 50 mph, it does not give in to the pressures. The tower stands … because it has a solid foundation. Build yours on Christ!