Psalm 11 The God Who is a Refuge

 

Introduction

When was the last time you didn’t feel safe?

 

Maybe you’ve been in the car with someone who likes to drive a bit too quickly.

Perhaps, when you were younger, the thunder and lightning made you want to get in bed beside mummy and daddy.

In actual fact, there are lots of things that leave us longing for a sense of safety. And when we face these things, we will want to know that there is someone or something there to look after us- we all want ‘refuge’, a source of safety.

In Psalm 11 David has reason to feel unsafe- and not because of a thunderstorm or a bad driver. In fact, David’s friends are telling him to run away because the world around them wanted to destroy them. However, from the very start, David declares his confidence in God as his refuge- David looks to God alone for help.

Many Christians today are asking the same question as David’s anxious friends: ‘What can we do in a world that wants to destroy all that we believe in and stand for?’. The temptation is to look around and feel like giving in our giving up. But Psalm 11 calls us to see things differently.

For David, God is his refuge. The message of Psalm 11 could be summed up like this:

When the foundations are destroyed the Lord is in His holy temple and the righteous will see His face.

When we face trouble, we remember who our God is and what He has done, and we look forward to dwelling perfectly with Him in His perfection.

Let’s see that firstly as we consider… When the foundations are destroyed…

In verses 1 to 3 it seems as if the world is against David- the foundations of society are destroyed- and his advisors are encouraging him to flee. But David declares his utter trust in God- God is his refuge.

The psalm opens with David quoting what others are saying to him- urging him to flee while he can. However, note how verse 1 begins with David’s confident refusal to those who advise him to escape:

In the Lord I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
“Flee like a bird to your mountain…

David couldn’t believe what they were suggesting. David firmly believed that God is the refuge for His People- they do not need to escape trouble but trust God in the trouble.

David chose to take refuge in God. He would not surrender to unbelief. He would trust in God and stand firm in the place God had called him to as his anointed king.

Now, to be fair to these advisors, they seem to have David’s best interest in mind. On the surface what they said made sense. They were aware of those who had violent intentions towards David. They wanted him to escape their wicked plots; in verse 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.

David’s friends described the danger in graphic terms. The archer is ready to shoot. Once he bends his bow, he can only hold the string so long before he will release the deadly missile.

The godly are in imminent danger from the wicked. These evil men are ready to strike when God’s People can’t see it coming.

On top of this, the wicked have succeeded in destroying the very foundations of society. David’s friends concluded that there is nothing left to do but run for safety. In verse 3 they end with a rhetorical question that suggests that running is the only option:

When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”

It looks as if the wicked have gained the upper hand and the righteous have no alternative but to give up and run away. The foundations of society- the institutions that protect the righteous and punish the wicked- are being destroyed; what can the righteous do?

Looking around at our world today we might be tempted to see things the way David’s friends saw their situation. We live in a world that does everything to destroy God’s perfect design for marriage and wants children to grow up confused about what it really means to be a man or woman made in the image of God. We live in a world where the highest court in our land promotes the murdering of children in the womb and legislates for assisted suicide and calls it ‘health care’. We live in a world where Believers are losing jobs for taking a stand for what they believe to be right and true.

In our secularised society Christian truths- which have underpinned our culture for over 2,000 years- are now undermined and even seen as dangerous. The foundations of society are under threat in all manner of ways.

And so, we look around and we wonder: What can we possibly do? Should we just run and hide?

That’s what David kept hearing from his friends. They basically tempted David:Run away and hide, there’s nothing you can do– you’ve tried trusting inGod,but it isn’t working.

When life as Believers is difficult, we too may be tempted to look to worldly things for help; or to look for a way out. This is a timeless temptation. Jesus was tempted with the same advice.

Remember in Matthew 16 how Jesus’ disciples advised Him to turn away from the work God had for Him to do. When Jesus told His disciples clearly that He must be killed and rise again, Peter tried to ‘speak some sense to him’. If Jesus had listened, He would have left the path God laid out for Him and would not have died as our Savior. But He trusted God, and through His faithful obedience we were saved.

As those who follow Christ today, we are often tempted to abandon the work God has given us to do. The situation seems hopeless- the foundations are destroyed and we are told we should just give up, give in, get on the ‘right side of history’.

At times we will be tempted to ‘compromise’. People will tell us to simply give in to the cultural forces and affirm the sins of society. They think it is better to be liked than to stand for God’s life-giving truth. But this is not an option for those called the salt of the earth and the light to a world darkened by sin.

Sometimes we will be tempted to give up. It would be easy to stop caring for the world and isolate ourselves culturally. But this is not an option for those touched by the grace of God. Our calling is to lovingly display the fullness of life that is found in Christ to a watching world.

When the foundations are shaken we may be tempted to give in or give up. Or, we could listen to how David responded.

Psalm 11 is David’s prayer when God’s People must choose between standing firm or running . David’s response was to take refuge in God and keep doing what is right.

This needs to be our response too as we apply Psalm 11 to ourselves. And so we turn to see… The Lord is in His holy temple…

Having the right focus is so important. For example, if we want to get the perfect photo, we know the lens needs to be adjusted so the image is clear; and we need to get the light just right before we take the photo. With the proper focus we can capture a picture that we will enjoy for years to come.

In Psalm 11 we see that David had the right focus. While others were looking around- looking for help in the wrong places- David choose to look up and focus upon God. David understood that they key to life is to focus on who God is and what it meant to belong to God.

David’s focus is on God in the second half of Psalm 11. David knew God personally and looked to the Lord to be His refuge.

First, David focuses on the fact that God is the sovereign King over Heaven and earth; verse 4:

The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord is on his heavenly throne.

God’s palace- His ‘holy temple’- is in Heaven. God’s throne- the symbol of His authority to rule and to judge- is a ‘heavenly throne’. God is far above and beyond any earthly courts or governments. God rules over everything, all the time, no exceptions.

Nothing happens in Heaven above, on the earth around, or even in Hell below that He does not ordain and overrule. God is sovereign and has sovereign purposes.

He is always at work for our good and His glory so we can trust in Him. When the foundations of our lives look shaky, we keep our focus on our sovereign God and trust His sovereign purposes.

God is always in control, and God sees all. From His throne He carefully watches over the world; in verse 4:

He observes everyone on earth;
his eyes examine them.

Here David pictures God like an appraiser evaluating an antique. God is always paying close attention to all that happens on the earth.

At times it may seem like God is oblivious to what is happening. But God’s Word teaches us that God is carefully watching and evaluating the life of every human being. He gives everyone sufficient time to show who they are by their actions.

The wicked think they can do evil and get away with it. But God sees all. He watches our lives, and He knows our hearts.

God rules. God sees. AndGod judges the evil and the good; verse 5:

The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked, those who love violence,
he hates with a passion.

The righteous do not escape God’s scrutiny. But God’s examination is for their good.

The verb ‘examines’ refers to the process of refining precious metal. Here David pictures a goldsmith purifying gold- he uses extreme heat to melt the metal so he can remove the impurities and refine it, making it even more precious than it was.

God applies the heat of difficulties- trials and testing- to His People becauseHe loves us, wants to purify us, and to help us understand our complete dependence on Him.And God ‘…examines the righteous…’ to prove that our faith is genuine and precious. We will never know how strong or precious our faith us until it is tested.

In 1 Peter 1 we are reminded to rejoice in our trials as they prove our faith is genuine, of more worth than gold. When we face difficulties, we make God our refuge and trust He is at work for our good and His glory.

God’s testing is for the good of the Believer. In verse 6, though, the testing fire of God’s judgment is devastating for the wicked:

On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulphur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

According to His perfect justice God is eternally angry with everyone who does evil and deals decisively with everyone who rejects His rule.

We shouldn’t be surprised to read about God’s anger. His wrath is a natural and necessary part of His love. If God loves that which is good, beautiful, and pure, He must hate everything that is set against it.

When I love my wife, I will hate an intruder who enters our house to harm her. If I am not furious at someone who hurts her, I obviously don’t love her.

In the same way, God’s love for the righteous must be matched by His hatred for the wicked. For this reason, it is God’s glory to hate sin and punish it according to His perfect judgement. He would be less than God if He was not a God of passionate hatred for wickedness and displayed this in His perfect justice.

God’s judgement is real, and it is completely appropriate. But, in Christ, we do not need to face this judgement. At the Cross God made a way for rebels like us, who deserved His justice, to escape it. Because Christ endured our punishment in our place at the Cross we can know God as our refuge.

Through Christ’s work at the Cross God’s perfect justice was done and He put an end to all our sin. Now we can know peace with God when we trust in the finished work of Jesus. So we know God as our refuge both now, and for all eternity.

And so we close by pondering verse 7 and the truth that… the righteous will see His face…

David ends with a wonderful encouragement to God’s People; in verse 7:

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

As David took refuge in the Lord, he knew that the Lord was with him.

David was sure of God’s goodness as He trusted in his God. But David also longed for that Day when he would be in the very presence of God. As David looked up and stood firm, he also looked forward to the day when He would be with His God forever.

But what is our focus as we look forward to that day? I’m sure we all would agree that we want to go to heaven. But what is it about heaven that we are looking forward to?

For God’s People the focus is not on seeing loved ones again or being free from pain or sickness or the burdens of life in a fallen world. Now, there is nothing necessarily wrong with these things; and heaven will be a wonderful place. However, when thinking of heaven, the Believer would do well to remember the words of Samuel Rutherford:

O my Lord Jesus Christ, if I could be in heaven without thee, it would be a hell; and if I could be in hell, and have thee still, it would be a heaven to me, for thou art all the heaven I want.

To be with Christ- to know Him, to see Him- is the true essence of heaven and future glory.

For God’s People our eyes are focused on our first love- the Lord Jesus. Our focus is on the One who has made heaven possible for us through His perfect sacrifice for us. We are the ‘upright’ because of Christ’s work on our behalf, and it is because of Him that we will see His face and enjoy God’s perfection perfectly for all eternity.

As Believers this is our joy, our peace, our refuge as we live in this world. As Believers this our focus as we would seek to serve our God all the days He gives to us on the earth. Indeed, it is only with this focus that we can continue through the difficult days.

Only when we know the Lord as our refuge, only when we know that One Day He will bring us to our eternal home we can live with hope and not despair. It is only with this hope that we do not flee- turn to other things for the security that only God can provide. Today we trust in Him by faith, knowing Him to be our Helper and Keeper. But One Day faith will become sight, and we will enjoy His perfection, perfectly forevermore. This is true hope, peace, security.

 

Conclusion

Is this wishful thinking as the world crumbles around us? Not at all. Jesus said, ‘I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also…’. These are the words of Jesus, so we know that they are ultimately true and will come to pass.

When this is our confidence and hope, we can stand firm; we do not need to give up or give in. As the world goes from bad to worse, we will make God or refuge. God is our refuge when we trust in Christ and His finished work above all else.

So let us leave this place today remembering:

When the foundations are destroyed the Lord is in His holy temple and the righteous will see His face.

When we face distress, we remember who our God is and what He has done, and we look forward to dwelling perfectly with Him in His perfection.