Building On Ruin

Jericho had been destroyed. A curse was placed upon anyone who tried to rebuild it (Joshua 6:26).  But, a man decided he would brave the curse and began rebuilding it.  According to 1Kings 16:34 the builder's two sons died, one when he laid the foundation and the other when he set up the gates. Here is an example of death where a man tried to build on the ruins of what God had cursed.

We can go back to Babel, another place God cursed. And we can read accounts over the centuries of men who tried to rebuild Babylon. How many have been cursed and upon whom there is death because they build again those things cursed.

In my many years of Pastoring I have observed many men who believed themselves somewhat. Who boasted in themselves of their greatness. They never built anything for God and spent their lives building something found upon the ruin of what God has already cursed. And when they add to this man-made religious scam some Babylonian traditions, they are indeed cursed.

We cannot build again the things we destroy unless we build again upon a ruined life we once lived.  Herein is a mystery: why, when people know their past life was a ruined one, do they go back to the beggardly elements of a disaster and try to build upon it again? It does not make sense.

A person who tries to build upon the ruins of another man's failures, his ruined life, is foolish. Any woman, girl, who takes up with a man or a young boy whose life is a train wreck, will never have a happy life. She will try to build her life around a ruin. It will not work. He will destroy her. And in many cases he will kill her. There is no hope in building a life around a person who is ruined.

I have tried repeatedly to educate sinners and backsliders that they cannot build a future life of joy so long as they continue to try and rebuild a life of ruin. The real solution is not to rebuild. It is to bury the old ruin, and be reborn. To get a new life and beginning. To start over on fresh ground. Do not use the elements of a ruined past. Totally discard all the past. Build new. Start over. Remove evil far from yourself. Keep it out of the house. What ever ruined the old house, keep it out of the new house.

This is why the way of the transgressor is hard. They always go back to try and build on the ruins of an old life.  And it is here so many die.

Let me O God build on the solid Rock. For on this Rock there is no ruin.

Bishop Reckart
A Man On The Rock, And Never Ruined