Psalms 11:1-7

Sub: What am I supposed to do when tempted to escape?

Comp: Take refuge in the Lord.

CIT: When tempted to flee, flee to the One whose always in control.

HI: Crisis will often lead us to trust in ourselves. We have to be diligent to remember the character of God, and Trust in Him. He will bring us through the crisis.

Intro:

The Bible records two occasions when David fled from Jerusalem:

1) when King Saul turned against him,

2) when Absalom, his own son, mounted his rebellion against him.

Whether this psalm was written on one of those occasions or in response to a different incident is not specified in the heading. David certainly would have faced many other threats during his time on the throne.

What we know with great certainty is, David was in the middle of a very difficult time in his life.

It was so bad...notice what his counselors recommended:

Read/Pray

Barth Challenges Bonhoeffer to Return to Germany

In 1933, Karl Barth wrote his discouraged colleague Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Disgusted with the German Christian response to Hitler, Bonhoeffer had fled Germany to pastor a German-speaking parish in England:

What is all this about "going away," and "quietness of pastoral work," etc., at a moment when you are wanted in Germany? You, who know as well as I do that the opposition in Berlin and the opposition of the church in Germany as a whole stands inwardly on such weak feet!… Why aren't you always there where so much could depend on there being a couple of game people on the watch at every occasion, great or small, and trying to save what there is to be saved?…

I think that I can see from your letter that you, like all of us—yes, all of us!—are suffering under the quite common difficulty of taking "certain steps" in the present chaos. But should it not dawn on you that there is no reason for withdrawing from this chaos, that we are rather required in and with our uncertainty, even if we should stumble or go wrong 10 times or a hundred times, to do our bit?…

One simply cannot become weary now. Still less can one go to England! What in all the world would you want to do there?… You must now leave go of all these intellectual flourishes and special considerations, however interesting they may be, and think of only one thing, that you are a German, that the house of your church is on fire, that you know enough to be able to help and that you must return to your post by the next ship.

Bonhoeffer returned to Germany 16 months later, after Barth had been exiled to Switzerland.

HI: Crisis will often lead us to trust in ourselves. We have to be diligent to remember the character of God, and Trust in Him. He will bring us through the crisis.

I. Get as far away from danger as possible. v. 1-3

A. They were speaking into his inner most being v. 1 “…how say ye to my soul”

v. 1 Soul = inner being with thoughts and emotions

here’s what was happening, these counselors…close me to David, good men - were encouraging Him to run from the danger. Get as far away as possible. These were men that he highly respected.

David was scared…

David was in danger of losing his life...

B. Get to a place where no one can find you “Flee as a bird to the mountain...”

Just get out of here…get to a safe place

C. They are ready to kill you…you have no where to hide v. 2

That was a common refrain of David’s counselors...

Psalm 3:2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

The world is constantly telling us to not trust in the Lord! It seems like at every turn…don’t trust in the Lord.

Illustrate: Many parents will have to answer to the Lord for discouraging their children from following God’s plan for their lives.

Many friends will have to answer to the Lord for discouraging counsel. Don’t do this or that it might not turn out well. Right now…Don’t go to church you never know what the government might say…After all you should be a good testimony…and not disobey man’s law.

D. You have to run, they’ve lost all sense of morality v. 3

David’s men saw the lawlessness, and the utter lack of morality and their thought was: “let’s keep David Safe!” - David you have to get out of here…the moral foundation of our culture has fallen apart.

David, since the moral foundations are destroyed there is nothing that the righteous can do, other than to get our of town.

This wasn’t made up…these were terrible times.

Again we don’t know what specific even is being referred to in this passage…but we know the decline of the culture was evident: (This probably wasn’t the time, but it is an illustration of the cultures decline)

In 1 Samuel 22 we are told of a particularly vile atrocity by King Saul. David had been warned by his friend Jonathan of Saul’s determination to kill him, and David had fled from Jerusalem without time to prepare for the journey. His flight brought him to the city of Nob, where he presented himself to Ahimelech, the city’s priest. Ahimelech, assuming that David was still in Saul’s service, was surprised that he had arrived without his division of the army. But David replied that he was on urgent royal business and asked for the priest’s help. Ahimelech gave him consecrated bread to eat and Goliath’s sword, which had been in the priest’s custody.

A short time later Saul was told that Ahimelech had assisted David, even inquiring of the Lord for him. Saul called Ahimelech to Gibeah, where he was holding court, and accused him of treason. Ahimelech denied that he was guilty of any such thing. He said that he had honored David’s requests as he always had, believing him to be Saul’s servant. Saul would not believe him. “You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and your father’s whole family,” he said abruptly.

Saul ordered his guards to kill Ahimelech and the other priests of Nob who had accompanied him, but they would not. They were afraid to lift their hands against the Lord’s anointed. Saul turned to one of his servants named Doeg, who then killed eighty-five of the priests, after which he also turned on the town of Nob and had all its men, women, children, infants, and animals exterminated. It was one of the darkest moments of that grim period of history. The king, who was responsible for maintaining and enforcing law and order, was himself destroying it.

James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 92.

David, there is no moral foundation…there is moral integrity…everyone is simply doing what they want with no regard to the law of God, much less the Leading of God. - You’ve got to get away.

Illustrate: I was talking to a pastor friend in Washington recently, a state that is anything but conservative, and I asked how the church was doing… “Well, we’ve had several families move from the area.” I asked, “Really, did their jobs move them, or they lost their jobs, or Covid related?” “No, they said they just wanted to live in a more conservative place where they agreed with folks around them.” -

Here’s the point…If I don’t like the foundation…then I’m leaving.

David was the exact opposite.

II. David understood God’s Authority v. 4-5

A. They’ve not removed God from His throne

Psalm 18:6 KJV 1900

In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry came before him, even into his ears.

The foundations my be falling apart…But God’s not!

Man might be losing control, but the Lord is still in control.

B. God is still the judge v. 4c-5

His throne is in the heavens…God is not in heaven fretting about the goings on here. He is in total control.

He sees everything

He “Trieth” the righteous — trieth - to test them…David even ask the Lord to test Him:

Psalm 139:23–24 KJV 1900

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 7:9 KJV 1900

9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.

James 1:12 KJV 1900

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

2. He hateth the wicked

v. 5 hateth - the antonym of the the Hebrew very, to love. God hates as His enemies those who love cruelty and wickedness.

It seems as though in our country today people celebrate wickedness…from the debase hip-hop culture which celebrates sexual depravity, to politican’s who allow our most vulerable to live in drug infested communities devoid of meaningful help. Sure they spend money on the problem, but as long as it doesn’t come into community of the elite then they allow depravity to exist. To the sex trafficer, and the professing christian who engages in sexual depravity and violence - God hates that!

So when David is encouraged to leave, and run the for the mountains he refuses…why?

III. David trusted God’s judgement v. 6-7

A. David knows God’s judgement is coming on the wicked v. 6

2 Thessalonians 1:7–9 KJV 1900

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

B. David knows God blessing is coming on the righteous v. 7

David…you’ve got to get out of here…Nope…I’m staying…Why would you stay...

Because I know God is in control...

CIT: When tempted to flee, flee to the One whose always in control.

Atheism Fails in Crisis

Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian Jew, has been called "the voice of the underground church." In the 1940s, he was jailed and tortured by communist officials in his home country. While imprisoned, he spoke boldly of the gospel to his atheistic captors.

About one experience in the 14 years he spent in prison, he wrote, "The political officer asked me harshly, 'How long will you continue to keep your stupid religion?'

"I said to him, 'I have seen innumerable atheists regretting on their deathbeds that they have been godless; they called on Christ. Can you imagine that a Christian could regret when death is near that he has been a Christian and call on Marx or Lenin to rescue him from his faith?'

"The atheist began to laugh, 'A clever answer.'

"I continued, 'When an engineer has built a bridge, the fact that a cat can pass over the bridge is no proof that the bridge is good. A train must pass over it to prove its strength. The fact that you can be an atheist when everything goes well does not prove the truth of atheism. It does not hold up in moments of great crisis.'

"I used Lenin's books to prove to him that, even after becoming prime minister of the Soviet Union, Lenin himself prayed when things went wrong."