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
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Dr. Stanley: Well,
this is the Word of God,
the eternal Word of God.
I’ve been reading it
for over seventy years.
Now, 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,
encouragement.
Sometimes I’d cry about what I
read, and sometimes I’d-a 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 point us
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 the simple
verse, “For God so loved the
world, that He gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should 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 any thing
according to his will,
he hears us.
And if we know that he hear us,
we know that we have the
petitions that we
desired of him.”
You don’t believe that?
How are you living your 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’ve
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 there’s confusion
and frustration and anger.
What are you doing
as a believer?
You say, Well, I’m
going to vote.
I understand that.
I certainly hope you do.
But if you ask God what He
thinks, do you think God’s 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 the passages of
Scripture God always has
something to say and I want you
to turn to the eleventh 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, 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 their
households everywhere and
singing, “King Saul has killed
his thousands, but David, young
David killed his ten thousands.”
Saul couldn’t handle that and
he tried to kill David.
Not just once but several times,
and chased him for years until
finally 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 arrow upon the
string to 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 coward.
I’m not fleeing.
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 Him.
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 this,
suppose I run?
Suppose I leave?
Then what’s going to happen?
And so 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 shrivel 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’re 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.
So let me ask you a question.
When you’re going through a
difficult time maybe it’s
something very tragic, or
something maybe not so tragic,
but you don’t know what
am I going to 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
circumstance or situation,
or difficult or hardship or
trouble, that you face in life
for which there’s 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’d 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 penned
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 trials that we are facing,
and pain, hurt.
The things that go on that we
never thought would happen
to us.
Listen to what David says.
He asks us a question.
He says if the “foundations are
destroyed, if 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, his likening a
nation to a building.
And you know that every building
if it’s going to stand has to
have a foundation.
And the better the foundation,
the longer it’ll last.
You build a house and you don’t
have a good foundation, 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 the
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 a 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 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’s 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 that people
who are representing you, you
want to believe that 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 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.
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 turned my life over to
God, I am available for Him to
speak to me anytime, anywhere,
in any circumstance, and in
every circumstance.
Because only when I’m listening
to Him am I going to 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 we work with,
the teachings of
the Word of God.
You say, well I don’t know many!
You know a few.
I bet you can quote
John three, sixteen.
You can quote the verses about
God providing what you need and
on, and on, and on 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.
It 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 his heart he knew
exactly what to do.
That is turn to the Lord God.
Christians don’t run from, we
run to Almighty God when we are
facing difficult, 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 our
responses 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’ve been through
many trials and heartaches, and
many tribulations.
All kind of persecution,
and yet they survived.
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–in other words, 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?
Say, 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 He does because
somebody’s gotten 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 us and see
what’s happening to many people
who’ve lost everything.
All the foundations of their
nations have crumbled right
before them.
Now if you think about suddenly
in a matter of weeks 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 auto–in other words,
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’re 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 filling 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 in any
way the pain, the loss, the hurt
and the suffering, but the
assurance that we as believers
have when David says, “When
the foundations gone, what do
we have left?”
Then he says, “The Lord’s
in His holy temple.”
And what he’s saying is,
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, that’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
do everything.
He says in verse four, “The Lord
is in His holy temple; the
Lord’s throne is in heaven; His
eyes behold, His eyelids 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 Scriptures says, “Upon
the wicked He will rain 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 Gomorrah.”
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 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 he says this, it
may appear that He’s inactive.
God’s not inactive, 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.
Now 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’ll 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 going to
happen, you don’t know what’s
going to happen, but we know
that God’s going to 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
rumbling, just enough to give me
encouragement, anyway, and
I hope you; that He’s
up to something.
Because the worse things get,
God does not ring 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 going to
ask Him to cleanse us,
and get us ready.
And so when, when I read these
verses, and when He asks
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 in our life 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 cries and 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’re going to 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, and I know the other.
Is there anything that you’d
have to deal with?
Because God is not going
to answer prayer of people
who–living in sin and
unrighteousness.
We’re trusting God, take care
of a 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 they’re going through,
and situations
and circumstances.
Don’t know what
they’re going to 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.
They want to buy this, that.
In other 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 then if you’ll
notice what he says, he says,
“For 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 are
willing to trust Him.
So let’s get back to this.
Is there anything that comes to
your mind in your life that you
need to clean up?
Anything that you know, any
habit in your life, or anything
that you maybe have tolerated
that you know you shouldn’t.
Anything that you need
to lay aside?
Confess and repent of?
Anything that you’re holding on
to that’s separating you
from God?
Whether it’s a habit, whether
it’s an attitude, but something
in your life that you know, if
you had to meet God at this
hour, you’d 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 us,
the issue is 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,
yield themselves to Him, He can
turn all of this 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
two-hundred or five-hundred, or
two thousand, or ten thousand,
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 I got this on me,
I’m getting it off, and I’d want
to 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, our family, the people we
go to church with, that we will
get right with God and then
see what He does.
Think about what would happen if
enough people, you say,
how many’s enough?
I’ll tell you.
It always begins with a handful.
You can read the history of
revivals, it’s always a few.
This few, this few,
this few, this few.
And you put enough fews
together, you got a huge crowd
of people crying out to God.
And is God going to listen?
Yes, He is.
And I’m simply asking you this.
Are you–for the–listen, 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 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 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?
Then 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, whatever.
If all of us choose somebody and
agree with them that we’re going
to pray together, or even if
it’s just once a week, I’m going
to call you on the phone, we’re
going to pray for our nation.
Or, after we get off work we’re
going to pray together.
Find somebody who will agree
to pray with you for revival
in this country.
That’s how it begins.
You say, l’ll that’s just two
people, two hundred thousand,
millions of people praying.
So I want to challenge
you to do that.
Plead with you in Jesus’s name.
Find somebody.
That somebody you say,
“Well, I never have prayed
with anybody before.”
That’s okay.
You say, Well, I may say
the wrong thing.
You won’t say the wrong thing.
If you’re confessing your sin
and repenting of sin,
you’re going to say
the right thing.
And then you’re going to
ask God to forgive you.
And then when you step out 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 want to have to deal
with it again.
But if I do, God, I’m on my
face before You to for–
ask You to forgive me.
So, now I’m not to ask you to
pray with somebody beside you
right now, but I’m asking you
to–let’s all of us lift up
our hearts to God.
And what we’re 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.
♪♪♪
♪♪♪
Father, thank You we don’t have
to beg for forgiveness and
cleansing, but ask sincerely,
and believe that You’re more
than willing to sanctify us,
to cleanse us.
And Lord we humble ourselves
again, as a people of God,
crying out to you, Oh Father,
having repented as best we know
how, 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 hearts the Holy
Spirit who lives within us will
enable us to live a godly life.
And the godliness within us will
be clearly seen by others,
so that they too, will want You
as their Savior and our Lord.
Thank You, Father, thank You
Father, thank You Father,
in Jesus’s name, amen.