"What Hath The Righteous Wrought?"

"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  (Psalm 11:3)

This is the most common rendering, however................

I had a dream over 40 years ago that the Lord Jesus was in a ditch beside the foundation of a structure.  He was running His hand along the foundation.  I was standing up at the first level and pointing out the magnificent building.  Jesus would not look up.  I keep talking to Him about the superstructure, pointing out its grandeur; still no response from Jesus.  He just continued to run His hand along the foundation. 

Here are some various translations and studies of our text over the centuries"

1. "For the foundations are being overthrown; what hath the righteous wrought?"

2. "'The foundations (that is, of good order and law) will be destroyed.  What has the righteous done' (to sustain them)?  All his efforts have failed."

3. "The image is of a shattered house by an earthquake.  'Since they have destroyed what you have established, what has the righteous done?'....If the foundations be destroyed, what will become of the tower, or superstructure?'"
The "best" translations seem to reveal the passage as relating something which has already occurred, not as most translation declare, "If...."  Just look around.

Our text certainly is to the Church, but not exclusively.  The Word of Psalm 11:3 is to all people groups, everywhere on Planet Earth.  All over the Globe we are witnessing the ever-increasing decline of civilizations; no continent or culture/ethnicity is excepted.  Even the, "foundations [of a godly society]," as the Amplified translates it,  which America has so long claimed to be, are, "being overthrown."  I come back to a translation above, "What hath the righteous wrought (worked, done)?"  Our Lord Jesus, "The Word of God," Himself, is saying this today to the nations, to His People.  "What have you worked?!?"

Nations of the World and the Church:  "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."  Neglect this, and we watch the collapse of our "works."  The cause and "cure" for "the great evangelical recession" is right here.  Continue to marginalize Jesus, and watch the foundations continue to fail.  Acknowledge, work and live the Colossian passage, "....that in all things He may have the preeminence," and the House will stand.   

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that my life will manifest, "that in all things He may have the preeminence."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2