We Will Rebuild

"We Will Rebuild"

I normally do not presume to comment upon political pronouncements. But the recent promise by our confident President concerning our crumbled economy echoed strangely in my ears. His optimistic announcement that “We will rebuild” carries, it seems, something of the confidence of fallen man throughout the ages. He meant, for sure, nothing more than the correction of our monetary crisis…but the words remind me of man’s endless effort to remedy his moral collapse.

“We will rebuild” is more than a mantra. It seems to illustrate man’s imprudent idealism about his fallen nature. Man’s Depravity is the Truly Greatest Depression. It is a recession from which there is, humanly speaking, no hope of recovery. At the Fall man’s twin towers of ‘happiness’ and ‘holiness’ both came crashing down together. The walls of his righteousness, like the walls of Jericho, fell flat the moment he tasted the forbidden fruit, and there they lie beyond hope of recovery or repair. Whatever he now touches bears the tinge of his transgression. “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righeousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Yet such is the insanity of sin, mankind just makes believe the mess is only minor as he mumbles out this message “We will rebuild!” Total depravity has taken away man’s tools for moral reconstruction. Man thinks the breach is not that bad, that his sin is but a stumble, but Scripture has a different story:

“…every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5)
“There is none that doeth good, no not one” (Psalm 14:3)
“For there is not a just man on the earth who does good and does not sin” (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

Yet man still thinks that somehow he will muster through as he makes his proud pronouncement “We will rebuild.” When we think our works will procure our passage into Paradise, we are saying, as it were, “…we will rebuild.” When we rely upon our religion to restore our rectitude, we recite again “we will rebuild!” When we create for ourselves a ‘god’ in our own image that has no laws to limit us, no commandments to cross us, no precepts to prevent us, and no Hell in which to punish us…we say again “we will rebuild!”

Mankind today is no less hopeful and no less haughty than in Isaiah’s days (Isaiah 9:9-10):

Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”

Oh my soul, and oh dear reader, why not avail yourself of the only remedy suitable to restore the ruin of mankind. For “unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1). Only He who made you can rebuild you. You need repair beyond your reach. But listen to His promises:

“The Lord shall build up Zion” (Psalm 102:16)
“I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18)
“you also, as living stones, are being built…” (1 Peter 2:5)

Why settle for the fragile and futile rebuilding which man's empty efforts afford? Embrace the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and stop building upon the shallow and sifting sand of self-righteousness. He is the Chief Cornerstone, the Rock of Ages, the Foundation which cannot be shaken and one which will never fall. Let not our motto be “we will rebuild” but rather “He must rebuild”. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will lift you up. “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Acts 20:32).”