If The Foundations Are Destroyed

David cried out to God in his time of distress, and said, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). It’s how we all feel when adversity comes to our lives: It’s as if the ground beneath our feet has started to crumble. The story of Saul persecuting David illustrates how to find a sure path when it feels like your life is falling apart. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch

God’s Messages

Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week..

Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….

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Well, this is the word of God, the eternal word of God.
I’ve been reading it for over 70 years and I’ll tell you something, I’ve never had a situation in my life and I’ve been through a lot of things, any difficulty, hardship, pain or suffering at some point in some place in the word of God, I found some comfort, strength and encouragement.
Sometimes I cry about what I read and sometimes I don’t want to shout about what I read.
But every time I wanted to believe what I read because that’s why God gave us his word.
He gave us his word as a stabilizer in our life.
He gave us his word that you and I could face any and every situation in life and the word of God does what the word of God is there to encourage us and the way out.
And when somebody says, I don’t believe it, I don’t feel angry, I feel sorrow that you live in this world in this day and time with all the things we have to face and you don’t believe the word of God.
You don’t believe this simple verse for God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
You don’t believe that. What about you don’t believe if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You don’t believe that you don’t believe what He says when he says, this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us, we know that we have the petition we design of Him.
You don’t believe that. How are you living a life without the word of God?
You may be existing, but you’re not living until you have discovered the Lord Jesus Christ who is at the heart of all of this book, the wonderful promises that He makes to us and the assurance that you and I have that no matter what we face in life, this we know for sure he faces it with us.
He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
And we’re living in a time when those words are very important because these are some of the most difficult times that we faced in this country that we’ve had times of war and so forth.
There’s something about this time that’s different.
There’s not that sense of oneness, not that sense of caring for each other, not that sense of stability and strength.
Somehow there’s a sense of doubt and uncertainty and conflict and uneasiness that permeates everything that’s going on.
And here we are coming to an election and this confusion and frustration and anger.
What are you doing as a believer? You say? Well, I’m gonna vote. I understand that.
I certainly hope you do. But if you ask God what he thinks, do you think God is not interested in elections?
Do you think He says nothing about it? Are you telling me how to vote?
No, because I think you’re wise enough and smart enough as a follower of Jesus to know what to do.
As you read the word of God, you don’t need somebody else telling you what to do.
And so when I think about where we are, where we’re headed and what could happen to this nation, it is a time to cry out to God to give us wisdom and the spirit of obedience and the courage to do what we know is the right thing to do.
So when I read uh the passages of scripture, God always has something to say and I want you to turn to the 11th psalm if you will and I’ll give you a little background of what’s happening.
David was confronted with Goliath to save the nation of Israel.
And you remember, he didn’t want any armor because he had the armor of God upon him.
And you recall, he confronted Goliath and told him he was going to cut off his head and feed him to the birds.
And so uh he won that battle.
And every kid in Sunday school knows about a slingshot and David and Goliath. And so what happened?
Because he’d been serving Saul and was serving King Saul.
King Saul got angry, he got jealous because after David’s victory, the scripture says, the women just came out of the households everywhere and singing King Saul killed his thousands.
But David young David killed his 10 thousands. Saul couldn’t handle that.
And he tried to kill David not just once but several times and chased him for years until he himself was killed.
And so when I read this passage of scripture and knowing what David was facing, look, if you will in verse one in the Lord, I take refuge.
How can you say to my soul?
Speaking of those who were telling him to run, how can you say to my soul flee as a bird to your mountain?
And then he says, for behold the wicked bend, the bow, they make ready their era up on the string.
They shoot in darkness at the upright at heart.
And then he says, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
He said, I’m not about to run. I’m not a cow but I’m not fleeing.
You’re you’re suggesting that I take refuge and listen to what he says.
He says, I want you to know right up front where my refuge is in the Lord.
I take refuge in the Lord is my safety. No matter if the king of Israel is after me.
I’m trusting the Lord to care for me. He knows what my need is.
And so I’m trusting, he says, how can you say to my soul flee as a bird to your mountain that is be safe?
And so he’s simply saying that suppose I run, suppose I leave then what’s going to happen.
And so when he says, when he says, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
And this is a question we need to ask ourselves at this time in the life of our nation.
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
This is not a time for God’s people to swivel up and act afraid of anything.
It’s a time to stand up and remember what we stand on.
We stand on the truth of the word of God. This is our foundation.
This is our guidebook, this is our compass.
This is our continuing reminder that we are the Children of Almighty God.
And no matter what we face in life, God will see us through it, that does not mean we won’t suffer.
It doesn’t mean we won’t hurt, it doesn’t mean we won’t be disappointed.
But one thing for certain, our Heavenly Father is with us. And for he says, here, the foundations are destroyed.
What can the righteous do? And in essence, the righteous can turn to Almighty God.
Let me ask you a question when you go through a difficult time, maybe something very tragic or something, maybe not so tragic, but you don’t know, you don’t know.
What am I gonna do? Does it ever cross your mind?
That the most immediate thing you should do is turn to the word of God.
This is our guidebook and think about this.
You can’t think of any circumstances, situation of difficult, hardship, of trouble that you face in life of which there is not an answer in the word of God.
Every single solitary situation, circumstance, heartache, trial, sickness, death. He knew about every single one of them.
So he’s covered them all, don’t you wish you could go to the doctor?
And he say in this bottle, whatever you have covers it all.
Well, they can’t say that, but I can tell you this, whatever you’re facing in life, this covers it all.
You can’t come up with a single thing that God does not cover nowhere. Will you find God saying?
Oh I forgot never with God because he pinned this book for you and me watch in order to walk through the most difficult trying times in life.
And so that means that you and I can feel adequate to face any and every situation as long as we follow his words.
So when we think about all the things that are happening today and the trials that we are facing and pain hurt, the things had gone that we never thought would happen to us.
Listen to what David says, he ask us a question.
He says, if the foundations are destroyed for everything you and I believe, what can the righteous do?
So the question is, what are the foundations? What is he referring to here?
Well, he’s likening a nation to a building and you know that every building, if it’s gonna stand has to have a foundation and the better the foundation, the longer it lasts, you build a house and you don’t have a good foundation.
It doesn’t take much to make it start crumbling a nation that does not have a solid firm foundation also can crumble.
This nation was built on the solidarity of righteousness.
The men who gave us a constitution, the men who were the forefathers of this nation built this foundation to endure and to withstand anything and everything.
And so from just a handful, they built the foundation upon which we built the greatest nation on earth.
But notice what he says. If the foundations are destroyed, then what can the righteous do?
So what are the foundations here are the foundations, the foundations upon which we were built was law and order things that we see crumbling around us.
Justice and truth. What is the truth anymore. Morality and decency.
We’ve thrown that to the wind. Integrity, faith, fairness, trustworthiness.
All of these are part of the foundation that’s made our nation great.
When we tear down any one of those, when we forsake those we decide we don’t need that, don’t want that anymore in our life, we are doomed as a nation.
And so when he says in this passage, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
We can turn to Almighty God because the foundations of our nation are being destroyed.
Because oftentimes there’s not truth and integrity, there’s not decency and order, there’s not justice.
There is not the quality of life that God intended for us because there are certain things that have to be part of it.
So what happens? We have a determined definite attack upon what has made our nation great.
You want to believe the people who are representing you, you want to believe the people who tell you that they’re telling you the truth, but everything about them says that’s not absolutely true.
And so it’s almost like David is about to cry.
And when he says, when he says in this passage, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do we do?
What David did? He said, you turn to the Lord, what is our response?
Our response is confidence in God. He said, he’s turning to God.
And now what does it mean to turn to God it means that he gets my attention.
Not just once in a while when I’m praying.
If I’ve, if I’ve turned my life over to God, I am available for him to speak to me any time anywhere in any circumstance and in every circumstance because only when I’m listening to him, am I gonna do what he wants me to do?
And so we have a responsibility to listen to him.
Now, listen to what that brings me back to the word of God.
God’s word is our guidebook for any and every single circumstance of life with no exception, you can’t come up with anything.
God will give us some sense of direction.
And that’s why we as believers need to be willing to share with other people, our friends, people.
You work with the teachings of the word of God. You said, I don’t know many, you know a few.
I bet you can quote, quote John 3 16, you, you can quote the verses about God providing what you need and on and on and we we can go about that.
But the issue is this the kind of confidence that we need has to be built upon the word of God.
And if it’s built upon the word of God, we’re unshakeable.
He’s given us truth, that is unshakeable, unbreakable inerrant, that is no errors.
That is the absolute truth of Almighty God. So we can face it no matter what.
And so when He says, what shall we do if the foundations are broken, if the foundations are destroyed?
And we have to ask, what do we do? We turn to Almighty God.
And it may be that you’ll need to start reading the word of God in areas that you’ve not read because God has a message for his Children.
And so in, in his heart, he knew exactly what to do that is turned to the Lord of God.
Christians don’t run from, we run to Almighty God when we are facing difficulties and hardships in our life.
And that’s what he’s referring to here. Two choices, we can run from it or we can run to it.
And if we take um response is right, it doesn’t mean we’re not going to suffer, doesn’t mean we’re not going to hurt.
And I’ve met many Christians who have been through many trials and heartaches and many tribulations, all kind of persecution and yet they survive.
So think about this, God is omniscient and he has all power.
So if he’s all you got, what do you need besides almighty God?
But you’ve got to know Him, you’ve got to have had a personal experience. You can have a Bible.
But do you know the God of the Bible? Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
Do you know in your heart that God will be true?
He said, well, I know he’ll be true to other people.
No, when you trust the Lord Jesus as your savior.
Everything in the word of God that applies to us also applies to you. God doesn’t play favorites.
He doesn’t, you may think it is because somebody has got more than you have. That’s not the issue.
The issue is God loves you and intends for you to stand strong and firm and true.
And if we look around this and see what’s happening to many people who have lost everything, all the foundations of their nations have crumbled right before them.
And if you think about suddenly in a matter of weeks of everything you own, you lost where you live, your house is gone, you have no privileges.
You have no bank, no money in the bank. You can’t get to the bank.
You don’t have enough gasoline for your words.
All, all the things that happen to people, we don’t ever think that they could happen to us, but whatever happens to us, our answer is the same.
I’m trusting Almighty God. I’m not running anywhere away from anything because Almighty God is sufficient to see us through whatever we are facing in life.
So you have to ask the question. Alright, so I’m turning to him. What’s God’s response?
Remember this? We have to be right with Him because God and sin do not coexist.
I either have him or I don’t have him.
I’m either walking in obedience to him or I’m fulfilling my own sinful desires.
When you and I have surrendered our life to Almighty God, we live under His divine protection.
Doesn’t mean I may not hurt.
I may not suffer loss, but I’m under his divine protection, which means he puts a limit to it.
And even people who lose their lives, what happens when they’ve trusted Jesus Christ as their savior, they haven’t lost, absent from the body present with the Lord that’s not losing.
It’s I’m not undermining uh in any way, the pain, the loss, the hurt, the suffering, but the assurance that we as believers have.
When David says, when the foundations are going, what, what do we have left?
Then he says, the Lord is in his holy temple.
And what he’s saying is this, God is available.
God is ready to listen to my need to whatever it might be.
And so you and I as believers, we have assurances.
The problem is that many of us don’t realize what our assurances are.
And that’s why I started off by saying this is the word of God, whatever I need somewhere I can open this book and I’ll find out what God wants to say to me.
He may say, well, get ready for this or get ready for that.
But listen, he will never leave us alone. No, not alone. There’s a wonderful old song. No, never alone.
He’ll never leave us alone because He’s God and he’s willing to help us through everything he says.
In verse four, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold his eye. Let’s test the sons of men. He sees what’s going on.
Then he says, the Lord tests the righteous and the wicked and the one who loves violence, his soul hates God hates violence, he hates wickedness.
And then his scripture says upon the wicked, he will reign snares fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.
And so somebody says, well, that was back in sodom and Gara.
Well, all of history says that God destroys the wicked, that ultimately there’s destruction for things that are absolutely ungodly.
And so David is simply saying, I’m, I’m not running from this because my security is in my relationship to holy God and because his security was in the relationship he had with God.
He wasn’t running anywhere. So is that not the attitude God’s people should have?
We don’t run, we stand, we don’t question we trust and no matter what goes on, we believe that God will see us through it as he says one way or the other.
And so when, when he, when he says this, it may appear that He’s inactive. God’s not inactive.
God is available to listen to our pains and sorrows and hurts and heartaches.
And the question is, am I living according to the principles of the word?
Am I living the way I want to live. We desperately need a revival in this country.
The revival is not getting a whole bunch of people saved.
A revival is getting a whole bunch of us clean before Almighty God so that our prayers will be answered.
And one of the interesting things I’ve noticed lately there’s a little rumbling across this country.
You may not have paid any attention to it yet, but you will.
There’s a little rumbling going on because people are beginning to open their eyes a little bit and I don’t know what’s gonna happen.
You don’t know what’s gonna happen. But we know that God’s gonna be in the middle of what’s happening.
But we do know this when people turn to God.
God does the most amazing things and all across the country, I believe there’s a little Lumb just, just enough to give me encouragement anyway.
And I hope you that he’s up to something because the worst things get God does not wring his hands.
He rejoices with the opportunity of intervening and demonstrating himself strong for all of those of us who are his Children.
And so we don’t run. We trust him, we wait upon him.
We ask him to give us direction for our life.
But most of all, we’re gonna ask him to cleanse us and get us ready.
And so when, when I read these verses and when, and he asked the question, when the foundations crumble, what then we know what’s then it’s time to get ourselves.
And I’ve said it before to get ourselves cleaned up. It’s time for us to look at ourselves.
First ask God to show us what an ally does not fit and then ask Him to forgive us of our sin.
But then to repent of our sin, which means we make a determined willful decision to turn away from sin in order to be used by almighty God in whatever ways.
And what does He do? He listens to the cries of his Children.
He hears our, he hears our cries, our needs and he’s willing to respond to what those needs are.
So, if you were going to kneel today and ask God to get you ready to intercede for this nation, you pray for America, think for just a moment.
Is there anything in your life?
You’d have to ask God to cleanse you of, would you have to say, well, Lord, I know this and I know that I know that is there anything that you’d have to deal with?
Because God is not gonna answer prayer of people who are living in sin and unrighteousness.
We are trusting God, take care of the whole nation.
And I don’t believe God intends for us to be destroyed.
I believe He intends for us to change and make great awesome changes in our personal lives, enough of us until God turns this around and He can do it.
So when he says, if the foundations crumble. What should we do? Stand, trust him, walk righteously before him.
Make sure that our heart is right and be willing to be an encourager to somebody else.
You’ve got lost friends who can talk about all the difficult things that are going through and situations and circumstances don’t know what they’re gonna do.
And it’s interesting to me what happens to people when they become a little bit frightened.
They want to buy a piece of this equipment, that equipment I want to buy this, that, that words, it’s always protecting myself.
God wants us to look to Him.
I’m not saying you should not be aware of what’s happening and protect yourself and your family, but most of all to Him.
God, what do you want to say to us? What do you want to say to me?
And so when I look at this passage and I look to see what David did and, and then if you’ll notice what he says, he says, the Lord is righteous.
He loves righteousness, the upright will behold his face.
That is God will show himself strong to those of us who will not trust him.
So let’s get back to this.
Is there anything that comes to your mind and your life that you need to clean up anything that you know, any habit in your life or anything that you may have tolerated that you know, you shouldn’t, anything that you need to lay aside confess and repent of anything that you are holding on to, that’s separating you from God, whether it’s a hat, whether it’s an attitude, but something in your life that, you know, if you had to meet God at this hour, you want time to get straightened out.
You know what? You don’t always have time to straighten it out.
And the issue is not just those, the issues, this country of ours.
And I believe with all of my heart, if God will send a revival, if God’s people will surrender themselves to Him themselves, to Him, he can turn all of us around.
But that’s listen. Can you give me another way for Him to do it?
We’re not going to vote to do it.
We listen no matter who’s out there representing us, we need God to represent us.
That’s who we need. If He’s going to represent me, I’ve got to be obedient.
And I do believe that any time God’s people, whether it’s 200 or 500 or 2000 or 10,000 or whatever it might be.
Get right with God. I’m telling you, God moves you and I should commit ourselves to be a part of a coming revival.
We can’t see, we may not feel, but we can believe that God is willing to send to this nation.
And in order to do that, we have to get cleaned up confession means that I agree with God about my sin.
But that’s not enough repentance means I not only agree with him but I’m willing to turn around and walk in the opposite direction.
These things don’t belong on me.
You know, if, if, if I got, I got this on me, I’m getting it off and I, I, I wanna be whatever God wants me to be the past is over, my dependence is upon Almighty God.
And so how does that start me?
You Him her, the only person you can repent for is you.
But you and I can cry out to God that our friends, our loved ones have family, the people we go to church with that, we will get right with God.
And then see what He does think of. Think about what would happen if enough people use them is enough.
I’ll tell you, it always begins with a handle. You can read the history of revivals.
It’s always a few, this view, this fee, this view, this fee and you put enough views together.
You got a huge crowd of people crying out to God and is God gonna listen? Yes he is.
And I’m simply asking you this, you for the listen for, for your own sake, for the sake of this nation.
We are on the edge for the sake of this nation. Are you willing to lay down sin?
Are you willing to turn away from it? Are you willing to ask God to forgive you?
And are you willing to repent of it today and tell God Lord, you can count on me to cry out to you with a pure heart.
And I am going to join this group of people who are going to pray for revival.
I’m going to keep my life clean by the grace of God and I’m going to expect you to work.
I’m not running God. I’m praying, trusting and believing you amen.
And we want to start right now and you know, when you’re dealing with sin, it doesn’t take long when you’re confessing and repenting, it doesn’t take long.
It just takes purity of motive. Listen carefully.
I want to challenge you to find somebody.
Anybody, somebody, you work with somebody in your family or whatever.
If all of us choose somebody and agree with them that we’re going to pray together, even if it’s just once a week, I’m gonna call you on the phone.
We’re gonna pray for our nation or after we get off work, we’re gonna pray together.
Find somebody who will agree to pray with you for revival in this country. That’s how it begins you.
That’s just two people. 22, 200,000 millions of people praying.
So I’m gonna challenge you to do that, plead with you in Jesus name.
Find somebody. That’s somebody you say, well, I never have prayed with anybody before. That’s OK.
You may say the wrong thing. You won’t say the wrong thing.
If you’re confessing your sin and repent my sin.
You gonna say the right thing and then you’re gonna ask God to forgive you.
And then when you step up the next day, remember when you start the next day, you’re starting knowing that yesterday you dealt with sin.
And Lord, I don’t wanna have to deal with it again.
But if I do God, I’m on my face before you to ask you to forgive me.
So now I’m not asking you to pray with somebody beside you right now.
But I’m asking you to lift, let’s all of us, lift up our hearts to God.
And, and what we are praying for is God send revival into America and start with me.
It doesn’t take long to get right with God and to make a commitment to Him. Amen. Let’s pray together.
Mhm Father, thank you.
We don’t have to beg for forgiveness and cleansing, but ask sincerely and believe that you are more than willing.
The sanctifies the cleansers. And Lord, we humble ourselves again as the people of God crying out to you.
Old Father having repented as best. We know I am.
We cry out to you to save our nation and to save multitudes of people, opening people’s eyes to their sins.
Lord God, thank you. We don’t have to beg.
We can simply ask and know in our heart, the Holy Spirit who lives within us will enable us to live a Godly life.
And the Galin is within us will be clearly seen by others so that they too will warn you as their savior and our Lord.
Thank you, Father. Thank you father.
Thank you father. In Jesus name.
Amen.