Upright

If you spend any time in the Psalms—say, for instance a “Psummer in the Psalms”—you will see the righteous contrasted with the wicked over and over again. It’s usually those titles—righteous and wicked—but here in Psalm 11, there’s a word that’s only shown up once before (in Psalm 7)—it’s the word upright (Hebrew: yashar). “Upright” is parallel to “righteous”. When upright is referring to people, it’s best translated “just” or “righteous”. But upright has a nice ring to it.

God is the standard of uprightness for His people:

Psalm 25:8 NIV

8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

Psalm 33:4 ESV

4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.

Hosea 14:9 ESV

9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

God is upright, righteous, just.

Those who believe in Him should be upright in heart:

Psalm 32:11 NIV

11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

In our daily walk, we are to demonstrate that we are walking on the narrow road.

Psalm 37:14 NIV

14 The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

God is upright. His people are to be upright. Here in Psalm 11, another psalm of David, we notice (again) the contrast between the wicked and the righteous (or, for our purposes, the upright).

We see here that the upright have a filter, they have vision, they have hope.

FILTER: The Upright Listen to the Lord (Psalm 11:1-3)

As in most psalms, we don’t know what’s going on here exactly. There’s no description in the title like there is in Psalm 3. So we’ve just got to work with what we’ve got.

Psalm 11:title NIV

For the director of music. Of David.

As we’ve seen in other psalms with a similar title, all we can be certain of is that this is a psalm of David and that it’s meant to be used in public worship. This is here to show the people of God how to respond when the world is collapsing in around them.

David clears his throat and begins to sing:

Psalm 11:1–3 NIV

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?”

David sings about his position—the place where he is safe. He has said this before (i.e. Psalm 7:1). He means it. He knows it to be true: In the Lord I take refuge. David has run for dear life, over and over again, straight into the arms of God. He knows that salvation is in the Lord; salvation is found only in God.

So David is asserting himself and asserting his belief that he is safe with the Lord—In the Lord I take refuge. Here is David’s anchor. The foundations are being destroyed, but this foundation remains.

And then David is asking some unnamed interlocutor, David’s asking someone: “How can you say to me...”

It’s like, “This I know to be true, so why are you trying to convince me of something else?”

The quotation marks help us to see what this other person is saying. From the last part of verse 1 (v. 1c) to the end of verse 3, someone is giving David some advice.

And here’s the thing: it’s not horrible advice, not on the surface. In fact, it sounds like pretty good advice.

“Run, run away and never return!” Well, okay, that’s the advice Scar gives to Simba in The Lion King, but it’s really pretty similar to the advice David receives here.

Someone is telling David to run away, to flee, and quick. The wicked have their bows ready, their arrows are touching the string and are ready to fly; they are poised to shoot the upright. The world is caving in—run, run away, and fast!

If the wicked are truly after you, if they are armed and dangerous and coming your way, advice to run and hide, to seek shelter is not bad advice. It’s good advice.

But what’s happening here is that David is being advised by others to find salvation somewhere besides in God.

Thankfully, the faithful man has a filter. He knows well enough to let the voice of the Lord drown out the other voices. He knows enough to listen to the Lord, over and above his well-meaning friends and family.

FILTER: The Upright Listen to the Lord (Psalm 11:1-3)

Do you have this filter?

Do you have a filter like David? Are you more accustomed to listening to the Lord or listening to others?

What informs you? What voice do you listen to most often?

I know a lot of believers who listen more to what Oprah and Dr. Phil have to say, or they listen more to the writings of some silly child author claiming to have gone to heaven than they listen to what the Lord has clearly said.

There are so many voices in the world—not just those of our friends and family—so many voices giving us even seemingly good advice.

Sometimes, it’s so subtle we miss it. Here in Psalm 11, the danger doesn’t come from a fire-breathing, faith-destroying ogre, but from someone close to David. Verses 1c-3 is not the advice of the wicked or of a hypocrite or of an agnostic/atheist seeking to destroy you, but to help.

Sometimes, like here with David, good advice from good people may still be advice contrary to the Lord’s word and will.

I hesitate to give too many personal illustrations, but a personal illustration is all I have here.

After I graduated college, I was an associate pastor at a church of 800-900 people. About a year after I got there, things started to go downhill. The church was fixin’ to split, and I was caught somewhere in the middle. The problem didn’t center around me directly, but I had a choice to make. I decided to resign, to leave quietly.

Several friends from the church and a handful of men from my college, including the president, suggested I plant a church there in the area. A handful of the church members approached me and said they would support me however and if I planted a church there would immediately be 150-200 members.

Man, was that tempting. And it wasn’t bad advice, really. It was advice from faithful people seeking to start a Christ-centered, Bible-believing church.

In the end, by the grace of God, I realized that starting a church would be a little petty and it would only serve to further fracture Christ’s Church; it would cause hostility and trauma and probably harm to the name and work of Jesus.

At that moment, my filter was working—filtering out what was merely good advice from what was God’s will.

What informs you? To whom do you most regularly listen?

David is able to filter what he’s being told and come up with what has always been the truth: In the Lord I take refuge…“I’m safe with Him. He’s got my back. I don’t need to flee to the mountain. I don’t need to fly away. I’m going to hang out right here, safe and secure in the arms of my Deliverer. And I’m going to be just fine.”

The filter of the upright teaches them to listen to the Lord.

How do we listen to the Lord? We have to know the Lord, we have to know how He operated in the past to understand how He operates in the present. We need to know what He has said; we need to know His character.

How can we do this? We read His Word. We assemble with His people—people who listen to Him over other voices. We seek out His will in Word and in prayer.

The upright—those who walk with God and follow His ways—listen to the Lord; that’s their filter.

VISION: The Upright Focus on the Lord (Psalm 11:4-7)

After the advice of David’s friend, we have a sharp contrast of focus. David’s friend is telling him to look at the wicked (v. 2)—“…look, the wicked bend their bows...” he says.

Instead of gazing at the wicked, David turns his sight to the Lord.

Psalm 11:4–7 NIV

4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. 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. 7 For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.

Do you see what David sees? It’s quite a picture: The Lord is in place. He is seated on His throne. He’s in charge, as always.

The Lord Yahweh is not removed from the situation; He is ruling over the situation.

The Lord Yahweh is not inactive; He is showing His active supremacy.

The Lord Yahweh is not far off or distant; He has dominion here and now.

VISION: The Upright Focus on the Lord (Psalm 11:4-7)

If the Lord is at the center of your vision, if the Lord is your focus, the wicked and what the wicked are doing doesn’t really matter.

The Lord is in control and all things are under His control. He is watching and examining all things. He hates with a passion the wicked. He hates, so He will rain down a raging retribution.

The Lord is righteous and loves justice. It’s this that steadies David, this that steadies the upright. God Himself is upright, righteous—always right, always good—and that matters immensely, especially when the world is crumbling to bits.

David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reveals the secret of steadfastness in this chaotic world. I’ll warn you: it’s going to seem too simple.

Everything depends on your vision, your focus. You can either look at the wicked (v. 2) or place your eyes on Yahweh (v. 4)

Despair is managed by keeping the Lord at the center of your vision:

Psalm 11:4 NIV

4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.

That is all that anchors you when the foundations give way. And it’s more than enough.

A missionary who does work here in the states tells a story about taking an immigrant from Egypt to the doctor for an appointment. This man had been in the hospital six times in three months for liver failure and was a candidate for a liver transplant.

In answer to the doctor’s questions at this appointment, the Egyptian brother replied to each one, “Jesus here [pointing to his heart]; everything OK.”

He was simply saying that there is something basic that controls the outlook on anything else in life. The same principle is here in verse 4.

We can say, very simply yet very confidently: “Yahweh reigns; everything OK.”

We need that to be our focus. This is the Christian’s vision—the Lord God sitting on His throne. That is fixed, that is steady, that is unmoving. Everything else is in flux, but not Him.

As John Newton said: “There is one political maxim which comforts me: ‘The Lord reigns.’”

At one point in the history of Christianity (and at many others besides), the Church was persecuted, tortured, exiled, martyred. And what does the Holy Spirit say to them through the apostle John? He wants the Church—Christians—to focus on this picture of the Lord:

Revelation 4:2–11 NIV

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

VISION: The Upright Focus on the Lord (Psalm 11:4-7)

The upright—those who walk with God and follow His ways—focus on the Lord; that’s their vision.

HOPE: The Upright Will See the Lord (Psalm 11:7)

Look with me again at the last phrase of this psalm.

Psalm 11:7c NIV

7 For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.

The upright will see His face.

Derek Kidner: “If the first line of the psalm showed where the believer’s safety lies, the last line shows where her heart should be. God as “refuge” may be sought from motives that are too self-regarding; but to behold His face is a goal in which only love has any interest.”

There are many who are interested in safety, but only saints care about fellowship. The genuine disciple doesn’t want only protection, but desires communion with God.

David had this hope, and he wasn’t anywhere close to where we are in the line of redemptive history. We live long after the cross of Christ, long after the empty tomb of Christ—and yet, we are still hoping. We are not there yet, but we have hope.

The word will in verse 7 is important there. It indicates a few things: 1) the certainty of this for the upright and 2) the future occurence of this for the upright.

The upright will see His face.

This is our hope, our assurance, our certain future.

1 Peter 1:8 NIV

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

This is an astonishing truth: though you have not seen Jesus, you love Him. We have not seen Jesus, but we love Him. That’s faith; that’s the hope of the upright.

A British man named William Dyke was blinded in the earlier years of his life by an accident. Though handicapped, he threw himself into things, studied hard, and had quite the academic record. He also dated a beautiful girl, who loved him and didn’t hesitate to say yes when he proposed.

Sometime before the wedding, a skillful surgeon heard about William and his condition and suggested that there might be something that could be done for him to recover his sight. So William put himself into the hands of the surgeon, the surgery was performed, and on the very day of the wedding the bandages were removed.

The surgery had been successful; he could see once more. And so it was that he saw his bride for the first time when they met at the front of the church sanctuary—what a moment of joy!.

And yet, in one sense, it was simply the proper fulfillment of all that had gone before. William had already held her hand, heard her voice, prized her love—how he saw her face. But he loved her before he ever saw her.

The same is true of the Christian—the time of seeing is coming when we will see His face.

The upright will see His face.

HOPE: The Upright Will See the Lord (Psalm 11:7)

When all is dark, and when all we seem to be doing is little more than dodging the arrows of the wicked, we need to remember that we will, one day, (Psalm 27:4) gaze on the beauty of the Lord…and dwell in [His] house all the days of [our] lives.

The upright—those who walk with God and follow His ways—will see the Lord; that’s their hope.

>Oh, that we would be upright—righteous, just, those who walk with God and follow His ways! As people of faith, that we would listen to God, focus on God, and look forward to the day when we will see Him.

And when we falter, when we fail, when we fall short, we know the Lord is our Refuge and we know Jesus is our Righteousness.

“Lord, give us a filter like David’s, help us to focus on you, and increase our hopefulness that we will see your face. Thank you for Jesus—the author and perfecter of our faith, He who endure the cross, scorning its shame, and this for us.”