Psalm 11 is another shorter psalm (at least, shorter than psalms 9 & 10.)

At first, It took me a few minutes to understand the gist of the first few verses, but I eventually got there.

Let’s take a look…

Interested in knowing Why? this series on Psalms…
check out the 1^st post.

Psalm 11

¹ In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
² for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
³ if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”

⁴ The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
⁵ The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
⁶ Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
⁷ For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.

My 3 Thoughts

1. Start at the beginning: David begins with a really good starting point. A bold & clear affirmation of where his trust lies… “In the Lord I take refuge.” We may not be sure exactly where this is coming from, but it will become more clear.
   • Realizing, from the get-go, where the most reliable place of refuge lies, is a good exercise. Doing so means that, on the day that trials and difficulties come, we know exactly where to go, there is no doubt or second guessing.
2. The Bad Advice: David then recounts a bit of bad advice that he’d received; allow me to sum it up:
   • “There’s no hope and no point trying to resist, or find a solution, aside from just running away. For the righteous have a target on their back and the justice system really isn’t there to help the little guy / the innocent.”
   • Has anyone ever given you advice like that?
3. The Good Advice:
   • David’s response to that bad advice comes, first, in the form of several statements:
     • The Lord’s in his temple (in control).
     • The Lord sees (he’s not blind nor does he ignore what’s going on in the world).
     • The Lord hates the wicked and the violent (the seeming delay in judgement isn’t to be equated to God’s approval or tolerance of those people or actions).
     • The Lord is righteous and loves righteousness (in other words, don’t stop doing what’s right, just because it doesn’t seem to be paying immediate dividends).
     • The upright shall see his face…. (does that mean his answer to their plight? … his face in eternity? … his deliverance?)

Food for Thought…

There’s an element of a prayer there in that second part, but it’s almost like David is saying: “The best defense is a good offense.”

We may not be able to control the things that come at us / the actions of others, but if we can simply remember what we know to be true about God, it will allow our faith to be strengthened, rather than eroded by the tough times that we are going through, or that we are seeing around us.

Thanks for spending these few minutes together,
May your faith be strengthened today, in the knowledge of God’s nature and character, rather than being shaped by the negativity in the world around us.