Psalm 11:3 “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
You don’t have to be a news junkie to take David’s question in Psalm 11 as more than rhetorical. It’s hard to watch what’s happening across the world without experiencing pangs of despair.
We don’t know where to look for truthful assessments anymore. The spirit of divisiveness penetrates every aspect of life, from how we perceive social justice to whether we should wear masks. Violence rather than law threatens to be the new arbiter of justice. Doxing people who hold different views, thus putting their families in harm’s way, is becoming common. Judging people in the past from the perspective of the present reminds me of looking in one of those carnival mirrors that distorts reality.
So how are we to live in what seems like the other side of righteousness?
David could have just checked out. “Flee like a bird to your mountain” (of Netflix). Leave the battle to others. Avoid those poisonous arrows aiming for your upright heart. But David would have none of it. And neither should we. Rather than focusing on the crumbling foundations of the world, he turned to the indestructible foundation, the one built by the God who loves justice.
When the foundations are being destroyed, the righteous choose to trust a just God. We let the struggles strengthen us. And we hold on to truth tenaciously, resisting the pull of hatred. We pray. And we learn to pray more. Mark Buchannan writes in Your God Is Too Safe of how often we look at the passage in Isaiah 40:31 and think mounting on eagles’ wings as the optimum place to be in tumultuous times. He points out, however, that the Hebrews move from the lesser to the greater, making “walking without fainting” the highest goal.
So don’t be discouraged if you’re not somehow flying above the chaos in the world. God may be calling you to walk. And to keep walking with eyes fixed on him. We each have different assignments to fulfill, no matter what might be happening around us. We might be living in a world on the other side of righteousness but let’s not faint. Let’s navigate through it with courage, diligence, faith and love.