Psalm 11

SLIDE 1 Tonight we come to Psalm 11. We are once again told this is a psalm of David. Though we are not told when he wrote it, most believe it to have been written when David was running from Saul and they tie it to 1 Samuel 21.

With Saul chasing him, David made his way to where the tabernacle was pitched in Nob. When Ahimelek the priest asks David why he was there, David lied and said he was on a secret errand for Saul. As a result, he had to leave so quickly that he didn’t have time to gather supplies so he asks Ahimelek for bread. Ahimelek gives David the bread that was reserved for the priests. Jesus mentions this story in Matthew 12. Ahimelek also gives David the sword of Goliath. David and his men then went and hid safely in the cave of Adullam.

Or at least they thought. Saul’s chief herdsman, Doeg, overheard the conversation David had with Ahimelek and reported it to Saul. Saul was incensed and called for Ahimelech and all the priests with him in Nob. “How could you supply my enemy?” Saul asked. Ahimelek replied that he didn’t know David was Saul’s enemy. How could he? David had said Saul sent him. But Saul was so enraged that he ordered his guards to kill Ahimelek and all the priests. When the guards refused, Doeg took his sword and killed Ahimelech and the eighty-five priests who with him.

When news of the event came to David his friends and advisors suggested he run to the mountains for safety, but David confidently replies that his safety was found in God not in some fortress or stronghold.

With only seven verses, this is a short psalm. We might divide into verses 1-3 where David talks about the advice he’s been given to run and hide and verses 4-7 in which we find David’s reply and reasons for his trust in God. His friends were advising living in fear, but David insisted on living by faith.

The inscription before the psalm says:

For the director of music. Of David.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this. Verse 9 started this way as well. However, Psalm 9 also included to instruction about the tune to which it was to be accompanied. I’m not sure what this message to the director of music is for. And then we’re told it was written by David.

1 In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. 2 For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:1-3)

As David faces this difficulty he’s advised to run and hide in the mountains. David doesn’t identify why has given him this advice. It may be one person or it may be several people. Whoever it is, the advice is to run away. His enemies were all around him. What makes it harder is because they’re hiding in the shadows making it difficult to see them. David just knows they’re out there. So his advisors encourage him to hide.

These people giving David advice mean well. Unlike David’s enemies, they really do want what is best for him. However, their advice isn’t the best. Their advice is to run and hide.

Perhaps you’ve had advisors who though they meant well didn’t really give you very good advice. They love you and wanted what was best for you, but that didn’t make their advice any better than David received. They will do like David advisors did and encourage us to give up, run away, and hide. “You better take matters into your hands and protect yourself or else you’re going to have even bigger problems.”

And really, what other advice can they give? Look what the question they ask at the end of verse 3. They’re asking about foundations are being destroyed. What foundations are they referring to? Perhaps it’s the foundation of law and order. Those who are in power who are supposed to be doing the right things are the ones doing the wrong things. As a result, those who are supposed to be protected, the righteous, are suffering. Whatever the foundations are, when the foundations go there is no hope. Therefore, the only advice they can give is to run and hide. What other choice is there? Whatever David was facing was causing his advisors to fear and they were speaking that fear into his life.

David has another choice. Listen to his response. “Why should I run and hide when I trust in God?” He’s being told to find a shelter where he’ll be safe and David replies that God is his shelter. If he’s going to run and hide he will do so in the Lord. God is his place of safety. He doesn’t run from the battle to save himself, he runs to the Lord. But they just don’t see it. So David then describes his reasons for trusting in God.

4a The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. (Psalm 11:4a)

SLIDE 2 The first reason to trust God is he is still on his throne.

This is important to remember. In the midst of our problems when the world seems out of control God is still on his throne. He has not lost control. The Lord is still God of the universe. The temptation we feel that we must do something and take things into our own hands is because we believe that someone or something else is now in control. When we go through a scary time we think that thing is in charge. David reminds us that God is still on his throne. Therefore, David will not allow the situation or even his well meaning friends to distract him for his knowledge that God is in charge.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah has a vision of the throne room of God. SLIDE 3

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)

Where was God? He was seated on his throne and the glory completely filled the temple. That’s what David is saying as well. But we don’t need to pass over the first part of this verse. Isaiah had this vision the year that Uzziah died. Uzziah was a good king who ruled for fifty-two years. Under his godly leadership the nation had victory over their enemies and saw economic success. So to lose a king like that was a big loss. But two, it meant a transition of power. We take it for granted that there won’t be any major hiccups when one president replaced another, but that wasn’t the case with kings. For one, there was the threat of foreign invasion. It was always an uncertain time. And Isaiah says that after Uzziah died he has a vision of the God’s holy temple. And where was God? He was sitting on his throne like he always has and always will be.

To say that God is in his holy temple and that he is still on his throne means that God is still sovereign. The word sovereign means that no one is above him. Whatever difficulty David was facing was not about God. If it was Kind Saul, Saul was not above God. God made Saul king and God could remove him. That also means that whatever we are facing is not above God. COVID is not greater than God. Election results are not greater than God. Sickness, death, unemployment, nothing is about God. He is higher than all of them and they must all submit to him.

R.C. Sproul used to say, “There are no maverick molecules.” What he meant by that was that God is always in control. If there are no random molecules then there’s no random out of control virus going on right now either. It might seem that way from our perspective, but our God is sovereign, he’s almighty, and he is in control.

The sovereignty of God is expressed in many ways. Jesus put it this way: SLIDE 4

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)

This reminds us that God is in control. He is still on his throne. If not even a sparrow can fall from a tree without God knowing it, don’t you think he knows what’s going on in your life? If he knows you so well that he has the hairs on your head numbered don’t you think he also loves you and does what’s best for you? God isn’t blind to what’s going on in your life. Nor is he helpless to do anything about it. Do we really think our problems are greater than God? David makes a declaration we need to repeat:

4a The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. (Psalm 11:4a)

The second reason for David’s trust in God is also found in verse 4.

4b He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. (Psalm 11:4b)

SLIDE 5 The second reason to trust God is he is sees and tests.

There are times in our lives when God allows difficulties that test us. He wants to know what we are made of. And he wants us to know as well. So he tests us. God allows difficulties to come into our lives not to torment us, but to test us and help us grow. We don’t like those tests, but they are for our benefit. Moses reminded the people how God tested them in their forty years of wandering. SLIDE 6

2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. SLIDE 7 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. SLIDE 8 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. (Deuteronomy 8:2-5)

They wandered because of their lack of faith, but during that wandering he tested them to teach them to trust him. God was showing them that just provided for them the entire time of wandering he would provide for them when they entered the Promised Land. Do you think they learned? Sadly, they did not. And sadly we are often slow to learn as well. So God continues to test us.

David could see his problems as a test of his faith in God. If he’d chosen to follow the advice of his friends he’d been bypassing God’s test and the benefits of it. James wrote: SLIDE 9

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2-3)

It’s in the midst of trials that we learn perseverance and how to trust God. If we don’t learn it the first time God will bring the test back in different forms till we do learn.

5 The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. 6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. (Psalm 11:5-6)

SLIDE 10 The third reason to trust God is he is just.

We may not understand the reasons for everything God does, but of this we can be assure; God is just. He always does what is right. But God is also a judge and he will judge by what is right.

You can be certain that David had enemies. There were those who wanted to get rid of him. Saul trying to kill David was only the beginning of his problems. So David needed to learn early, before he was king, that it was God who would judge those people and not him. He needed to trust God to do that.

Twice when David was running from Saul, David had opportunity to kill Saul. Both times his men urged him to take Saul’s life. They even said that it was God’s will, that God had placed Saul in David’s hands and given him the opportunity to kill him. SLIDE 11

The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ” (1 Samuel 24:4)

But both times David refused to follow their advice. SLIDE 12

6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” SLIDE 13 7 With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. (1 Samuel 24:6-7)

David refused to take revenge and insisted on allowing God to do it. This is a hard lesson for us to learn. Someone offends us and we feel the need to defend ourselves and take the other person out. Paul wrote to the Romans saying: SLIDE 14

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19)

Where did God say that? He said it in Deuteronomy. SLIDE 15

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them. (Deuteronomy 32:35)

God says that at the right time the guilty will pay. So Paul tells us to allow God the time he needs. David had already learned this lesson. He didn’t seek to avenge himself; he left it in God’s hand and in God’s timing. God is judge and he eventually took care of it. David knew that whatever was causing the problem in the psalm God would take care of.

Finally we read in verse 7:

7 For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face. (Psalm 11:7)

SLIDE 16 The fourth reason to trust God is he favors the righteous.

God favors those who trust him and do what’s right. Therefore, they have nothing to fear. Later David wrote: SLIDE 17

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. (Psalm 55:22)

God shows favor to the righteous. He won’t allow them to fall.

The problem some have with this idea is they will say they aren’t righteous. But is that what God says? The Bible teaches us that when we come to God through Jesus that God attribute the righteousness of Jesus to us. It is given to us as a gift. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God said: SLIDE 18

I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel. (Isaiah 46:13)

And Paul wrote: SLIDE 19

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22a This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (Romans 3:21-22a)

We have a right standing before God through Jesus. That means that we are righteous before God. That also means that as David wrote we are regarded with favor from God. He loves us. We will see his face.

David’s friends are encouraging him to run in fear and David wants to know why?

In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain.” (Psalm 11:1)

What did he have to fear with God on his side? Paul described it like this: SLIDE 20

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

The question is do we believe it? Do we believe that we don’t have anything to fear and no reason to run? Do we believe that God is for us? Or do we listen to the voices of the fearful who encourage us to run? The last thing we need to do is run. The first thing we need to do is take our concerns to God.

How should you – as a follower of Jesus Christ, respond to the things you see going on in our world right now? How should you – as a follower of Jesus Christ, respond to the things that are going on in your personal life? Maybe, one of the first things we should do, when we find ourselves going through hard things and difficult times is ask, “Is this a test?” And then of course; another question comes out of that is, “If it is a test, am I passing?”

Commenting on this psalm, Ken Mckinley brings it close to home and asks:

What has all this COVID-19 mess revealed about your heart? Where is your faith? What has been revealed about your heart over these last few months? What’s been revealed about your priorities? What’s been revealed about your faith? What has this test that we’ve all been going through shown to be the most important thing in your life? Is it your health? Your money? Your comfort? Or is it God and your walk with him? Are you spending more time with God through all of this, or less time?

If what we’re going through right now is a test, are you passing the test? I pray that as we all go through various tests and trials in life that we will come out shining. I pray that as God searches our hearts, that he shows us these areas where we fall short, gives us grace to grow, and helps us to mature in our faith. And I pray that on that “graduation day” as we stand before God that we are found in Christ – having passed the test.