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The Ministry of Consolation
"If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psa. 102: 7).
he Companion Bible points out that the foundations here refer not to much to
buildings as to "the settled order of truth or institutions". In Isa. 19:10 the word is
translated "purposes".
It is not our intention here to discuss the evident prophetic character of the Psalms, but
there are few who have received the illumination of Scripture who do not realize that the
foundations are being destroyed at this present time. There is also no scriptural warrant to
make us expect that these foundations will ever be restored before the Lord Himself
comes.
"What can the righteous do?"
It is exceedingly difficult not to attempt to do something. One will feel stirred to great
activity in witness, another will seek to form a league or a crusade. All these things may
be perfectly right, yet on the other hand they may be wrong. The Psalmist seems to
supply the first great answer to his question "What can the righteous do?" in the very next
verse. What does he say?:
"The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in the heavens" (verse 4).
It is evident tat something is implied between verses 3 and 4. It is as though the
Psalmist said, What can the righteous do? Well, before he "does" anything let him
remember this. First, his utmost "doing" is vain except the Lord deign to own it.
Secondly, the crumbling foundations here do not by any means indicate that the
foundations of the Lord's throne are crumbling. Heaven is higher than the earth. At the
very time when the earth will be seething cauldron, ruled by a man possesses by the
Devil, the throne of God will be surrounded by a sea as smooth as though made of glass.
When therefore you feel that the time has come for you to "do" something in view of the
breaking down of the very foundation of truth, of society, of order; just take your place in
spirit for a moment there where the temple still stands unsullied and the throne unshaken.
In correspondence with the words "What can the righteous do?" come the words of
verse 5, "The Lord trieth the righteous". The breaking up of the foundations is the work
of the wicked (verse 6), but the Lord is overruling the work of the evil one to purge and
try His people.
Think twice and thrice therefore before plunging into anything that may, after all,
prove but a snare of the wicked one. Our testimony will not be less decisive because we
have weighed our plans in the balance of the sanctuary:
"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His temple. The Lord's
throne is in heaven".