When I was young preachers warned of coming social decline. With widespread rejection of God and the Bible they predicted collapse of the strong societies we enjoyed. They described unhappy situations of family breakdown, mental illness, strife, corruption, drug abuse, immorality, suicide, people without foundation in life, godlessness and people with no experience of a normal life.
That seemed like scare talk and we couldn’t imagine western countries ever becoming like that. Sadly we now have multitudes in modern western countries who don’t experience what was ‘normal’ just half a century ago.
Many people today lack any real foundation for their life. They accept as normal things that are terrible and damaging to them and their future. They have no hope of a better life so they give in to the tide of moral failure, abuse, hopelessness and scrambling for existence. In past generations only those whose lives were deeply damaged lived like that. Now it seems the majority of people live like damaged goods.
The hope in such situations is for restoration of the foundations. Life is built on a foundation of one sort or another. That foundation is based on our beliefs and understanding of life. We live out what we believe.
If people build their lives on moral failure and hopelessness then there isn’t much they can build. If they build on a foundation of human ideas then what they build won’t stand. If they build their life on empty religion then what they build will be equally as empty.
Thousands of years ago the issue of collapsing foundations was already being discussed. King David, a man who knew how to build a nation on godliness, talked of destroyed foundations.
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3
When people are not given solid ground to stand on we can’t blame them for being pulled into quicksand or being stuck in the mud and mire. People’s lives today are mired with failure, defeat, abuse, hopelessness and a bunch of other unhappy things. People go from one failed relationship to another, raising children who will stumble into even worse things. In some communities there is an over-riding sense of defeat and dependence, without any hope.
Leaders look for improved social conditions, education, law and order and other human constructs to solve the problems, but the problems are not human. They are from a spiritual source. When man builds society on man’s ideas there is no hope but man’s failed nature to prevail. That leads to all the things we are seeing.
The first true foundation for life is the Fear of God, since God is absolutely real and He is our creator, our owner and the one who judges us and gives us what we deserve.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the holy one is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
Those who reject God’s reality are foolish and chasing the wind, leading them to trouble and defeat.
“The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable things; there is none who does good.” Psalm 14:1
Would you want to raise your children and your children’s children in a place where people are corrupt and do abominable things, and where no one does good? Your children would most likely end up like those evil people.
Yet in most western societies today there are many who are just like that. They do not fear God.
The New Testament shows another foundation, after we recognise we are accountable to God. That foundation is the wonderful forgiveness and salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Our sins make us unacceptable to God, but Christ has paid for our sins and can bring us into God’s family.
The Apostle Paul talked of this foundation.
“No other foundation can any man lay than what I laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 3:11
So the great hope for each nation is that people stop pretending God doesn’t exist and recognise their need to get right with Him. They can only do that through faith in Jesus Christ.
Wonderfully, at times through history, people have risen to call men and women back to God. When that happened whole communities and nations were cleaned up. That’s because foundations were restored.
That brings me to a wonderful promise given by God to the prophet Isaiah, about people who would lead great revivals.
“Your people will build the old waste places: you will raise up the foundations of many generations; and you will be called The repairer of the broken wall, The restorer of paths to live in.” Isaiah 58:12
What a joy to be one of those people who restores communities and families and individual lives. What a blessing such a person is who rebuilds foundations, even foundations that have been crumbled for generations. What a blessing to restore paths of life for people who despair of living.
I pray that God call you to be one of those who rebuilds the walls and restores foundations. May people around you be pulled out of quicksand and mire to get their feet on solid rock. May you even be used to move whole nations out of destructive paths back onto solid foundation.
First, however, you need to be sure your feet are standing firmly on the Fear of God and full trust in the Salvation that comes through Jesus Christ. Please do that, and then look to God for His empowerment so you can get about Restoring Foundations.
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