The Lord is in His Holy Temple (Psalm 11)

Announcements

We’re still looking for volunteers for a handful of ministries:

(1) We’re still looking for someone to take the office of treasurer immediately. There are a few prerequisites to that position in that you must be a member in good standing and you have to be comfortable with money and working with the bank. If you’re interested in that, please talk with me about it as soon as possible.

(2) We’d like to get more people involved with different aspects of our worship service, including reading Scripture, leading prayer, and singing and playing instruments in the worship team. If you have any interest in those ministries please talk with Natalie as soon as possible.

(3) We recently heard from the Philipsburg Revitalization Corporation that the Christmas tree in town wasn’t decorated this year because they couldn’t find volunteers to decorate the tree. I’d like for our church to step up and help them out with that. If you have any interest in helping us decorate the tree in town, please talk with Natalie about it, I’d like for us to get it done by Friday—it’s really just a way for us to show the community that we care.

Please be aware of the following dates:

There will be no Wednesday evening services on December 22nd and 29th. Instead, join us for the following special events:

Christmas Eve Carols & Lessons at 7pm in the Auditorium; followed by a dessert social in the Activity Room.

New Year’s Eve Celebration from 7pm-12am.

Of course, please continue to worship the LORD through your giving. Our church is completely funded by your faithful giving. We aren’t supported by a larger denomination nor are we supported by any agency, we’re completed supported by those who give as unto the LORD. Without your giving, we wouldn’t be able to do anything that we’re doing. To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) you can give in-person at the offering box located at the front of the building. If you give a check please write it to Grace & Peace and if you give cash and you’d like a receipt for your gift, please place it in an envelope with your name on it. If you’d rather give via credit, debit, or bank transfers you can do that either by (2) texting the number 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or by (3) visiting us online at www.gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

This evening’s message is a continuation of our series in the book of Psalms and quite honestly, the text of Psalm 11 is actually rather short. However, despite its short text, the psalm itself is filled with great riches to mine. And much like many of the other psalms, it’s highly relatable to anyone who has experienced any amount of great difficulty in life. As you turn to Psalm 11, let me give you some background information about the psalm.

The exact timing of Psalm 11 is completely unknown. The psalm itself doesn’t give us too much information, however, some of the imagery of David being told to go into the mountain resembles the time in David’s life in which he ran from King Saul and hid in the caves in the mountain (though again, we can’t be certain on that because the text itself doesn’t record that information). Regardless of the precise timing of the psalm, we know that David is facing a situation in which there’s a concern for his life and people are telling him he ought to run for his life, but he chooses to take refuge in the LORD. Which again, ought to be relatively relatable for most of us, because even if we’ve never faced the exact situation that David faces in Psalm 11, we’ve all experienced times in life when people have told us we should just quit and leave.

But its important to keep in mind David’s resolve in Psalm 11, “In the LORD I take refuge.” Let’s read Psalm 11 together.

Psalm 11 ESV

To the choirmaster. Of David. 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) Vs. 1-3 is David’s Temptation to Flee and this actually isn’t talking about temptation the same way that we typically talk about temptation. This is David experiencing others tempting him to run. Vs. 4-7 is his Confidence in the LORD. Despite his friends telling him to run, David remains firm in the LORD.

Prayer for Illumination

David’s Temptation to Flee (1-3)

Now, remember that we aren’t particularly sure of when exactly this psalm is about, it could be just a general statement of any time that David had faced enemies seeking to do him harm. It could be of a more particular moment in his life like when King Saul chased him or possibly when Absalom’s attempt to steal his throne was made known to him by his people and they told him to flee, but regardless, the idea is the same.

He’s facing some amount of enemy warfare against him. And again, it could be when King Saul chased him for his life or it could be when Absalom was coming to take his throne; and the psalm starts with David making a statement and posing a question. “In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain?”

He starts by questioning the suggestions of his friends or advisors telling him to flee by making the statement that he takes refuge in the LORD—we’ve talked about what it means to take refuge in something before, but nevertheless, let me just give you a solid idea of what this means. To take refuge in something or someone means “to go to or into a place for shelter or protection from danger or trouble” (Merriam-Webster), which means to take refuge in the LORD means to go to him in times of danger or trouble, to rely on him for protection, and to hope in him for shelter.

And with the way that David says “In the LORD I take refuge,” the mindset that he’s portraying is that he takes refuge in the LORD alone. Rather than running, he relies on God for protection, rather than hiding, he hopes in the LORD for shelter.

David expresses disdain towards their suggestions by questioning how they could tell him to “flee like a bird to your mountain.”

Knowing what David knows about God, his disdain or consternation towards their suggestion is understandable.

David knows the LORD to the extent that the Bible itself calls David a man after God’s own heart. David has known God since his time as a child as a shepherd in the field. When David slays Goliath he does it in the name of the LORD.

He knows the LORD well enough to know that God is the proper place to run in times of great danger or trouble because he knows that God protects his own people.

Knowing God and what all God does to protect his own people, David is right in questioning their suggestion to run.

But arguably, they’re only making the suggestion that he run because of the plots of David’s enemies. Vs. 2, “For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they have set their arrow on the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.”

This sets forth a vivid image of warfare, with those that seek to do harm to the upright in heart having their bow bent and arrow on the string.

And this imagery is given in such a way that those who are seeking to do harm to the upright in heart are ready to do that harm immediately.

Maybe you’ve never seen how a bow works, but you typically don’t bend the bow until you’re ready to shoot the arrow. Particularly with longbows or bows utilized in warfare, it actually takes a bit of effort to bend the bow far enough to send an arrow shooting, which means that unless an archer has their target in view, they aren’t going to bend their bow back.

David’s friends are warning him to flee because his enemies have him in their sights, they’re already aiming at him, and they’re prepared to shoot at him.

It’s of note that they do this in darkness, which while it could just be a way of saying that they’re attacking him at night, I’m going to suggest that due to the figurative nature of poetry, this could also relate that they’re doing this with a certain heart or mindset.

That they’re not doing it for righteous reasons, but rather doing it for evil reasons. And I’m suggesting this based off the figurative nature of poetry

And I’m suggesting it because of the contrast between darkness and the upright. If David is the upright in heart, than those who are shooting at him in darkness can’t be upright in their motives.

If David is the one who is righteous in this text, then those pursuing him and attacking must be unrighteous in their attack.

David would be the one in the light, whereas his pursuers are the ones in darkness.

With that in mind, it would seem as if his friends are right in their suggestion that he should run, especially considering their last sentence in Vs. 3, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

This sentence alone is a vital sentence for all Christians to remember. Because it’s so apparently true, but we frequently allow foundations to crumble in such a way that those who were standing on the foundation falter.

Consider with me issues such as creation and the inerrancy of Scripture—in both situations, the Bible is clear. Genesis 1-2 teach us that God created the heavens and the earth with his voice in six literal days. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all Scripture is breathed out by God.

Now consider what happens when those two truths are doubted. When creation in six literal days by the very words of God is doubted it might not seem like a significant issue at first.

However, when you lose the miraculous event of creation, you also lose the importance of mankind being made in the image of God. Mankind is only made in the image of God if God himself chose to create mankind. If God didn’t create mankind and mankind only exists because of random processes that somehow evolved mankind into existence, than who cares what happens to other people? They aren’t made in the image of God, they just happened into existence.

As you continue in that line of thinking through Scripture as one who doubts the veracity of the creation account, you then have to question all the miraculous events that occured throughout Scripture. If God didn’t create the heavens and the earth, then why would the plagues of Egypt be a thing? How could you believe that God could do those sorts of things if he couldn’t create the heavens and the earth?

The miracles throughout Scripture all exist because God was able to accomplish them by utilizing his creation. And once you start questioning God’s miraculous working throughout history, you then come to his own life. If you can’t believe that God created the heavens and the earth, how can you believe that Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem? If you don’t believe that God created all things, how can you believe that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and died on the cross for your sins? If you don’t believe that God created, how can you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead?

Once the foundation is eroded, there’s significant theological issues. If God’s Word is completely breathed out by God then God’s Word must be inerrant, without error.

That’s a logic issue. If God’s Word was written down by men who were directed to do so by the Holy Spirit, then logically, all words in Scripture are God’s Words.

And if you believe that God is only ever good and that God is only ever truthful, then his Word has to be truthful as well.

If the Word of God isn’t true, then that makes God a liar. And if God is a liar, why would you worship him? If God was a liar, he wouldn’t be any better than Satan.

But God doesn’t lie and since God breathed out the Word of Scripture, we can then assume that Scripture doesn’t lie.

But once you lose the inerrancy of Scripture, we have to doubt everything that it says and the foundation crumbles.

“What can the righteous do?”

In Psalm 11, this is a little more particular. “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Considering who David is and who his friends are that are offering this advice, we could probably assume that these are his advisors giving him suggestions.

And thus, they’re probably thinking of foundations of society. Allen Ross suggests that “these foundations refer to the Law and the order of society based on the Lord’s rule.”

Those who are suggesting that David run and hide are concerned that if David is killed, that the society that they’ve built on God’s Law and his rules would collapse.

This is actually an issue that continues through history.

Augustine wrote his book The City of God to confront this thinking in the year 426 AD. The City of God was written by Augustine during a time in the Roman Republic in which the empire was in the midst of collapsing.

There was panic and concern from both unbelievers and believers that the end was near. And for many believers, the end of the Roman Republic meant that the end of all things was near—they assumed that since Rome was ending, that Jesus must be coming back immediately. They assumed it was apocalyptic and the eschaton was occuring now.

Augustine, in his book takes a step back and he points out that Roman Christians aren’t just part of the Roman Republic, they’re also citizens of a different kingdom, which he calls the City of God.

And he explains that it really doesn’t matter if Rome collapses, because they’re citizens of this heavenly kingdom. Thus, if Rome falls, that doesn’t necessarily mean its the end and if Rome collapses, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the apocalypse has started and the end times is present.

Hearing that, you might think, “how could people assume that the collapse of Rome equated the end times?” But isn’t that precisely what American Christians do concerning the United States?

American Christians are so concerned about the collapse of the United States and they assume that if the United States is destroyed that Christianity will collapse as if the United States is the bastion of Christianity.

They neglect the facts that Christianity is actually stronger and healthier in other parts of the world; that there are more genuine Christians in places like China and the Middle East than in the United States. And places like South Korea, which is infinitely smaller than the United States actually sends out more missionaries than the US does.

They also neglect the fact that Christianity was around way before the United States was even a thought. Since the life of Jesus, there has always been a Christian church and there has always been a remnant of true believers.

People in the US act as if the collapse of the US would be detrimental to Christianity, but just like the fall of Rome, true believers will continue to believe. And if Jesus doesn’t come back for another 100 years, even if the United States didn’t exist anymore, Christianity would still exist.

Which is why David doesn’t take their suggestion to heart and he doesn’t run off into the hills. What does he do instead? “In the LORD I take refuge.”

Allen Ross, “The temptation from the fainthearted, then, was based on a fear that the nation might crumble. Their view was experiential and earthward. David’s view was higher.”

When all around David, his advisors assumed his death would mean the collapse of the nation, David simply looked to God and he took refuge in the LORD.

Which is something worth considering, because we live in a world that is sometimes volatile with great struggles and difficulties, what ought to be our response?

Is it to react in fear that all is ending? Or is it to run to God through Jesus and take refuge in him?

The scene painted in Vs. 1-3 of enemies seeking to do harm to David and the fear of his people telling him to run and hide is then contrasted to confidence in the LORD. What David says in the remaining few verses about God completely dwarfs the problems that he’s voiced in Vs. 1-3. Let’s re-read vss. 4-7:

Confidence in the LORD (4-7)

Psalm 11:4–7 ESV

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.

In the remaining four verses, David paints a different image. In the first three verses there’s a clear image of warfare coming against him from his enemies. How his friends or advisors respond to this warfare coming against him tells us that the is a situation in which there is grave concern about his life, but it’s clear that David has confidence in the LORD for his refuge. And as he continues through the remaining few verses, he explains why he can be so confident in the LORD for refuge. David says:

Vs. 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.”

The holy temple that the LORD is dwelling in in Vs. 4, is clearly not an earthly building. First off, remember that the temple hasn’t even been built yet, David wasn’t allowed to build a temple for the LORD because of the great amount of blood he shed through war. Solomon builds the first temple.

vs. 4, speaks of a spiritual or a heavenly temple with God sitting enthroned in heaven. This type of writing instills a sense of God’s glory amongst the readers—that God is so immense that the earth cannot hold him and the heavens is where he resides.

It also speaks of his sovereignty—that he is the king on the throne. Which contrasts the concerns of David’s friends in Vs. 3. They’re concerned that if David died, the foundations will erode, but David in Vs. 4 makes it clear that regardless of what occurs to him, God is still the king and God is still on the throne.

It is this heavenly king known as the LORD or Yahweh that sees all things. “His eyes see, His eyelids test the sons of mankind.”

The Hebrew Word translated as test is the word bahan and it carries the idea of testing metals by melting them. It’s speaking of the method utilized to purify or refine substances.

Which makes sense because the Bible speaks of the refining of people by God in a refiners fire in various passages.

Malachi 3:3, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify . . . and refine them like gold and silver.”

Psalm 17:3, “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for God, and the LORD tests hearts.”

Psalm 66:10, “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.”

When Peter speaks of the genuineness of your faith being tested he compares it to gold that perishes though it is tested by fire.

The Bible teaches us that God knows the hearts of man and he tests their hearts to see what is in the hearts of man. That’s the idea at play in Psalm 11:4. God sees them and he knows them and he tests them.

That idea of the LORD testing people to see their hearts continues in Vss. 5-6. “The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

It is of note that everyone is tested by the LORD. Both the righteous and the unrighteous face refining from God.

We could say that this testing is the idea of God trying to determine what the people are made of. God examines the righteous to determine that they are righteous

But the wicked and the one who loves violence are hated by his soul. Remember, in Hebrew, the idea of the soul carries more than the ethereal part of a person. Often when soul is utilized in the Old Testament, it refers to the whole being.

The whole being of God hates wickedness, he opposes those who seek to do wicked and violence because wickedness and violence is in direct opposition to his will.

We often have a completely unbiblical view of sin in that we tend to downplay our own sin—it’s no big deal that I lied, it didn’t hurt anyone, or people won’t notice that I did this.

The reality is that God sees all things, and he saw your sin. To God, your sin is a big deal. To God, your sin is an affront and God notices when you sin.

And God is testing each and every person to see whether they’re living in sin or not.

He is a refining fire that is testing each and every person and David has what might seem like harsh words for those who are wicked in Vs. 6. “Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

Again, that might seem harsh for David to say, but let me remind you of our previous statement about imprecatory prayers and statements in the book of psalms.

Last week and a few other times, we’ve talked about these statements in the psalms that might seem like they oppose Jesus’ command for us to love our enemies.

When you read “let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup” more than likely, you’re not thinking, “wow, David really loves these people.” In fact, you’re thinking the opposite, David really hates these people.

But let me remind you again, that these types of statements aren’t out of hatred, in fact, David’s statements here are in light of the fact that God hates wickedness.

These types of imprecatory statements aren’t given out of hatred from David, but rather emphasis of God’s righteousness.

These types of statements aren’t given as soon as a first offense occurs, these are last resort type of statements.

David says these things when he realizes that the person in hand is so wicked and so evil, that unless God does something drastic, they aren’t ever going to repent.

And like I mentioned last week, these aren’t the types of things that you would say if someone cut you off while you were driving home, they aren’t the type of thing you’d say if you got a bad report card, or you have a hard day at work.

These types of statements are for extreme situations in which the only way a person might repent is through God’s righteous judgment.

And let me be abundantly clear, David isn’t saying this to satiate some idea of justice in his own mind, he’s saying these things because he understands who God is and recognizes that unless these people repent, there is nothing but burning coals, fire, sulfur, and scorching wind for those that reject God.

God sees all people and he examines or tests all the children of man to see what is in their hearts.

For those that are wicked or evil; for those that love violence, the LORD will heap coals, fire and sulfur, and a scorching wind will be the portion of their cup. For those that are evil, there is judgment.

For those that aren’t wicked, for those that are righteous, vs. 1, tells us what the LORD offers those who are righteous in God’s sight. “In the LORD I take refuge.” For those who are righteous, God offers a place of safety, of security, of protection. For those who are righteous, they can trust in the LORD.

Why is this? Vs. 7, “For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.”

This last verse tells us why David is so confident in the LORD. Combined with all he said in vss. 4-6, that God is sovereign and he sees all of mankind and tests all of mankind to determine their hearts, this last verse tells us that God does all these things because he is righteous, he loves righteous deeds, and the upright will see his face.

David is confident in the LORD because he recognizes that in the present situation, he is the upright and he has been acting and reacting in righteousness.

In Psalm 11, David isn’t in the wrong; he is being wronged by people who seek his life. And rather than run from his enemies like his advisors suggest, he runs to the LORD for refuge. Why?

Because God is righteous and God loves righteous deeds. David is confident in the LORD, because he’s confident in God’s character.

Which is a theme that is repeated throughout the psalms. David repeatedly appeals to the character of God in all his situations—when he faces enemies, when he sees hardship in life, when things seem rough and terrible for him, he appeals to the Lord’s character (who God is).

David runs to the LORD for refuge because he knows that the LORD loves righteousness and David knows that he is righteous in this instance.

And he concludes this psalm by stating that “the upright shall behold his face.”

Now, as we move into application, I think you can already see different ways that this psalm can be applicable in your life today, I’ve been intentional with providing different ways for you to apply it, but nevertheless, let’s discuss specific application. Unlike normal, where I separate the text into different sections and I apply each section to you, we’re going to take this psalm in one unit. The reason for this is simple, the last few verses provide the reasoning for the first three verses, to separate them for application would be to miss the point of the text. So, let’s take the full psalm as one unit for our application:

Application

Psalm 11 provides us a brief poem in which David responds to his friends’ or his advisors’ suggestion that he runs and hides because of some unknown militaristic threat against his life. Their argument is essentially that if he dies, the foundation of society in Israel would collapse, but David essentially responds by asking, “why would I run and hide when I could run to God?” And he spends the last few verses of the text by describing God as one who is completely sovereign, who sees all things, and tests the hearts of all mankind. He ends the psalm by making the statement that God is righteous, he loves righteousness, and all who are upright will see his face. David shows us something that is worth us understanding and applying to our lives today. When David is faced by severe opposition in a militaristic sense and his life is in danger, his response is one that we ought to have when we face similar circumstances. Now of course, most of us will never face a situation quite like this, where a military has come up against us, but there are several instances that are similar that we could draw parallels to. Let’s start by making those connections before I present application for you:

David is facing a situation in which his very life is in danger from those who would seek to kill him. I mentioned that we aren’t entirely sure when this occurred, it could have been during his run from King Saul or it could’ve been when his son Absalom attacked him and sought his life.

Most of us will never face a situation in which another person literally is coming to kill us, but we might face situations in which someone speaks derogatorily about us or towards us. We might face a situation in which someone at work opposes us and tries to destroy our reputation or tries to cause us pain at work. It could be someone at home that thrives in causing you to suffer.

And in facing these trials and tribulations the idea of simply running away might sound tempting. It might seem like leaving is the best option (which don’t get me wrong, it might be), but if God has called you to be somewhere, then running away would be foolish.

Despite the opposition that you might face, if God has called you to do something like God called David to be the king of Israel, to “flee like a bird to your mountain” would be foolish.

So, what do you do when you face opposition like this in life? When someone at work speaks derogatorily about you, when your reputation is being attacked, or someone at home wants you to suffer?

Let me suggest that you ought to do precisely what David does.

Start by checking your heart. David knows that what he says is correct because he knows that he’s acting righteously.

Now of course, this assumes that you’ve already repented from your sins and have believed in Jesus Christ in a general sense; this assumes that you’re already saved.

Because we know from Scripture that apart from Jesus Christ, no one is righteous. So, righteousness in that sense depends completely on whether we genuinely believe in Jesus Christ or not.

However, once we’re past whether you believe, there is always the question of whether the hardship that you’re facing in life is due to your own sinful behavior, or just a consequence of living in a sin-cursed world.

What I mean by that is that each trial or tribulation in your life is an opportunity for you to ask if you have sinned.

Until you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ from a general standpoint, your description in Psalm 11 is one who is wicked and according to Vs. 6 there is nothing but judgment for the wicked.

But once you’ve repented, you have the ability to do righteous deeds, which God loves because he is righteous.

Because you have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And you’re now considered righteous in the sight of God, but until you cross over into eternity, you still have to deal with your sinfulness.

Paul writes that there’s a constant battle within between sin and doing right—if he was constantly warring within, then there ought to be a constant warring within you between sin and doing right.

So start, in every trial and tribulation by checking your own heart.

If you find that you’re facing that trial and tribulation because of your own sinful behavior, allow yourself to be called to repentance by the LORD.

What that looks like is this: when you find yourself in a difficult moment in life or perhaps a difficult stretch in life, take time to intentionally slow down, consider your heart, and ask God to reveal sin in your life so that you can repent.

More often than not, you’ll find that you’ve done something sinful and God is utilizing a hardship in your life to cause you to come to him and repent.

In the rare chance that you didn’t commit any sin and you find yourself suffering or in trial and tribulation anyways, then do what David does. Take refuge in the LORD.

Often in our modern-day world, people talk about different places being their safe place. We’re told that schools ought to be safe places and churches need to be safe places.

And that’s absolutely true, but for a Christian, the ultimate safe place is in the LORD. He is our safe place when we need protection. Quite frankly, if you ever elevate the church or a school or your home as your safe place above God, what you tend to find out is that when the local church hurts you, or you disagree with the school, or someone at home betrays you, you’ve lost your safe place.

But when God is your refuge, your safe place from protection, you can be confident in him because he doesn’t change.

Now, you might as, “how do I make God my refuge?”

David is an excellent example of what it means to make God your refuge. Conventional, human wisdom told David to run and hide or in other words, trust in yourself, find a good place to go, and then go.

But David does something else, he trusts in the LORD, that is what it means to seek refuge in God.

Its easy for us to try and find safety and comfort in objects, in buildings, in other people, but the truth is that all those things and people are fallible and they’re mutable. They can fail you and they can change.

But God doesn’t fail and God is never wrong and God doesn’t change. Who better to have trust in?

God is our refuge, but that doesn’t mean we won’t face difficulties and we won’t face dangerous situations. The disciples face great hardship in their life, God led the Israelites through the wilderness, and all his people faced tremendous hardships at various points in life.

He never promises that we’ll have a life of only prosperity, wealth, and health.

But he does promise that when life is difficult, when we run out of money, and when our health is terrible, that he will be there to lead us through it.

What you learn as you continue in your Christian life is that despite the great hardships of living in a sin-cursed world, God is still good and in his goodness, he provides a way for you to escape all temptations; and often, that way is to simply run to him and trust him.

So, the application for this psalm is actually rather simple. When you’re faced with great difficulty in your life:

Ask yourself “is this a result of my own sin?”

If it is, use it as an opportunity to repent from your sin

And turn back to Jesus.

If that difficulty isn’t a result of your own sin, run to God for safety and refuge.

Don’t run to your friends, don’t run to your family, don’t run to substances, don’t run to seemingly good things. Run to God first.

Throw everything at his feet, ask him for grace and for mercy. And trust that whatever does happen, it is because of his love for you.

Trust him to utilize whatever you’re going through for your own good. Even if what you feel differs from this truth.

Because those who are upright will see him face to face.

There is a newer hymn written by Chris Anderson, that I think sums up the idea that’s presented to us by David’s response to opposition in Psalm 11. I’m just going to read you the first verse and then we’ll transition into Prayer Requests.

I run to Christ when chased by fear

And find a refuge sure.

“Believe in me,” His voice I hear;

His words and wounds secure.

I run to Christ when torn by grief

And find abundant peace.

“I too had tears,” He gently speaks;

Thus joy and sorrow meet.

Put simply, Psalm 11 teaches us that in every hardship, we need to (1) consider our own hearts and repent of any sins that we find; and we need to (2) run to God through Jesus and trust him as our safe place, as our refuge.

Prayer Requests

This is this week’s prayer list:

Bill Stiver is having surgery on December 29—pray for the doctors to have wisdom and pray for a quick recovery.

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Pray for the remaining renovation work—we’re currently $4,800 short of completing all the projects. Continue praying for the LORD’s provision for these projects.

Pray for our church, in particular, concerning consistent attendance and increased attendance.

Continue praying for Philipsburg and the surrounding areas; that we can be utilized by God to continue making mature believers of Jesus Christ.