By Jim Mettenbrink
In his Psalm, David asked, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:13) (upon which this long series has been based). He was acknowledging that this was the foundation of a nation, any nation. Why would it be destroyed? Note, God founds and destroys nations as He decides. So it is vital that we know what His decision is based upon?
Another Psalmist wrote of God’s throne in heaven, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne….” ( Ps 89:14; 97:2). We know that justice is based upon a standard of right and wrong. Righteousness is the other factor of God’s throne. David wrote, “The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed” (Ps 103:6). Another Psalmist declared, “Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge” (Ps 50:6). So God is the judge determining who is righteous and who is not.
David concluded one Psalm expressing his trust in God’s righteousness and essentially equating God with righteousness. In other words, righteousness is God’s character – “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright” (Ps 11:7).
Psalm 119, the longest, focuses on God’s word. Within that is the definition of righteousness, “The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever” (v160); “…For all Your commandments are righteousness” (v172); “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth” (v142).
The Psalms open with – “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Ps 1:6). God’s prophet clearly states that command is not only for individuals, but also for nations – “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit” (Jer 18:7-10). God’s righteousness (laws) must be the foundation for a nation to exist in peace and prosperity (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). Now back to “Restoring the Foundations begins with you.”