The Sure Foundation Of Our Times

  We live in a postmodern society that is exposed to volumes of information and is acquiring knowledge at a rate that is unprecedented in history.  According to UNESCO 2015, the global literacy rate for all males is 90.0% and the rate for all females is 82.7%.  In Kenya, the middle class has been significantly growing and the country boasts of reduced child mortality, near universal primary school enrollment and narrower gender gaps in education, according to a recent World Bank report.  These are impressive progress reports both for our country and globally.

However, a highly disturbing trend is emerging of a populace and governments that are increasingly pushing God to the peripheries of their lives and governance, respectively.  Perhaps the comforts of life, human achievements, and worldly knowledge has puffed us up and made us to deceptively perceive self-sufficiency.  As a nation, we are increasingly embracing non-theistic beliefs such as atheism, agnosticism, apatheism, ethical culturalism etc.  Please note that knowledge without the fear of God puffs up (1st Corinthians 8:1).   In fact, the more we know, the more we should revere God because we are increasingly exposed to our human limitations and the unfathomable wisdom of God.  Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"?  Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"? (Isaiah 29:16).

Romans 1:20-21 states that, "Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.    For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."  God's creation clearly and loudly point us to Him.  Mankind is without excuse for in the depths of our being, we know that there is God and creation only serves to confirm it for us.  However, when our hearts are corrupted by the lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes and pride of life, we begin to rationalise God out of our lives.  Unfortunately, if we persist in this way, God gives us up to the foolishness and lusts of our hearts.  We need to understand that the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight (1st Corinthians 3:19) and the foolishness of God wiser than human wisdom (1st Corinthians 1:25).  Only a fool says there is no God (Psalms 14:1a).

Also sad to note is that some Christians are safely seated on the fence regarding their faith and have adopted liberalism, where they consider God, one among many others. We can learn from biblical history in matters of faith in the One and True God.  The children of Israel, despite worshiping God, also followed worthless idols!  2nd Kings 17:33 states that they worshiped the Lord but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.  Consequently, Samaria was exiled to Assyria.  Judah was not any different.  The people repeatedly did evil in the eyes of God despite God unreservedly restoring and delivering them from their enemies whenever they repented.  Eventually, Jerusalem was exiled to Babylon.  When God's judgement fell upon them, He thrust them from His presence and the result was destruction and pain.

From him (God) and through him (God) and for him (God) are all things (Romans 11:36).  Its in God that we move, live and have our being (Acts 17:28).  Apart from Him there is no life!  When we live for God, we are not doing Him a favor.  Instead, we are doing ourselves justice.  It is foolish to begin to imagine that we can build our lives on another foundation, other than Jesus Christ.  A parable was told by Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27 about the wise and foolish builders.  The wise man built his house on the rock and when rain came down and the storms blew and hit hard against that house, it did not fall because of its foundation.  On the other hand, a foolish man built his house on sand.  When the rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew against that house, that house tumbled with a great crash.  It is foolishness to think that we can build our careers, families, relationships, financial enterprises on any other foundation, other than Jesus Christ.  This is because when the storms of life come (and they will surely come), all that we have built in our own strength and wisdom, apart from God, will come tumbling in a crash.

Isaiah 33:6 states:

He (God) will be the sure foundation for your times,
    a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

Some versions use "stability" in place of "sure foundation".  The word stability denotes firmness, steadiness, constancy (Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible).  If Kenya is to prosper, its foundation must be Jesus Christ.  If our families are to flourish and our children to be a blessing to many generations, we must lay the right foundation which is Jesus Christ.  Whatever aspect of your life that you can think of, Jesus ought to be your foundation.  Only He is the sure foundation in a time when truth is considered relative and there is no absolute right and wrong.  In a time of rampant change in our societal values, some changes even threatening the sanctity of marriage, only He is our sure foundation- He never changes; He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He does not change like shifting shadows.  His Word, the yardstick for our lives, remains unchanging despite societal changes.  

How can we build our houses on a sure foundation?  It is a work of grace through faith.  When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour of our lives, we receive His grace which works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).  God is reminding us today that unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain (Psalms 127:1). Our marriages and families are built up in Him and for Him, when we submit ourselves and allow Him to work in us and through us according to Philippians 2:13.  Our nation is established in Him and for Him when we submit ourselves to His Lordship and follow in His righteousness.  Submission to God often seems like foolishness to many, and yet it is the key to true salvation, wisdom and knowledge that leads to eternal life.
 

Join me in making this prayer:

Our dear heavenly Father, I thank you for your word that has reminded me that You are the sure foundation of my time.  Forgive me, for when I have leaned on my own wisdom and pursued my own ways.  Forgive me for when my heart has become corrupted by sin and my mind puffed up in pride, and therefore walked in rebellion to your word.  Forgive me for where my heart has grown cold and I have accommodated sinful ways in and around my life.  Forgive me for rationalising sin and thinking that I can lead my life apart from you.  I pray that the fear of God may fill my heart.  I desire to build all aspects of my life on the sure foundation- Jesus Christ, that I may know true salvation, wisdom and knowledge that is found in you.