I read of the carnage in Nice, France (200 casualties, 80 deaths); victims of hate. I read about a progressive agenda using teen pregnancy to “educate” the Panamanian population about aberrant sexuality. I watch a race war heating up in the States … not between blacks and whites, but between black and blue. Vladimir Putin claims Europe is inevitably headed to WWIII. I feel the rising pressure to conform to a new set of world values … that are not Christian values.
Financially, relationally, morally and spiritually our world is crumbling. The towers and parapets of our great societies are tilting precariously, yawning fissures have opened in the supporting arches … because our foundations are gone. What hope does a pastor have? Is there any efficacy in my calling? Why keep talking to a world that would rather chose its opinions from the internet than listen to God’s Word?
During that particular pastoral-pity-party a sentence from the Psalms 11 stirred in my heart … “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” So … God’s Word agrees with my assessment of the world situation. NOT! In the Psalm, that sentence comes from the mouth of an enemy bent on discouraging a follower of God. The speech counsels taking flight because the evil people are out to get you. Sometimes I’m tempted to run off … not physically, but by simply slipping off into silence. Here’s a portion of Psalm 11. I’ve highlighted the words of worldly discouragement in blue. Notice that the Psalmist is arguing against them …
In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me:
“Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
A simple argument silences the voice of despair, “God is my hope; my circumstances may change, but he does not.”
