Psalms
In 1834, a song was penned by a man named Edward Mote. We know it to be The
Solid Rock. I’ll read through the first verse and the chorus.
“My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.”
For those of us in the room who are proactive and have read through the psalms
we’re going to cover on Sundays, you will know that Psalm 11 is all about standing
on a sure foundation, even though everything else is falling apart.
Everything worthwhile in life and worth pursuing must be built upon a solid
foundation, because if it’s not, the whole thing will, at one time or another, come
crashing down.
As kids, we played with blocks or Legos and we learned real quick how important
it was to have a solid base or foundation to build upon. The Church was built upon
the solid foundation of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, that Jesus is in fact
the Christ the Son of the living God, and that was the rock upon which the whole
Church rests. Our Church staff is built upon the solid foundation of shared values;
our faith and our walk with Jesus, integrity, honesty, trustworthiness amongst
others. I remember stressing the importance of having those shared values with
Andrea and with Brayden over the phone during our phone interviews. If we don’t
have those shared values as our foundation, it doesn’t matter how big of a staff
we end up having. It will not last.The past several weeks we have been looking at David’s life and the things he was
experiencing and the trials that he faced. And I love how we have this constant
throughline, this truth that God is our refuge. And it’s not only true throughout
the book of Psalms but throughout the entire Bible.
Psalm 11:1a
In the Lord I take refuge;
In the Hebrew, it is “bayahweh hasithi” – in the Lord I take refuge. What a way to
start out this chapter and what a foundation to stand upon. Who’s David’s refuge?
The Lord. Who’s our refuge? The Lord.
You see, a lot of the reason for why we experience unrest and a lack of peace is
because we put our confidence in the wrong things. I think we have gotten to a
point in our lives where we can, if we wanted to, be pretty much self-sufficient or
self-sustaining; or at least that would be the illusion (God still remains our
ultimate sustainer regardless how or what we think about it).
But what happens is that we begin to place our confidence in the wrong things:
our careers, or in our intellect, or in our wallets, or in whomever occupies the Oval
office, or your preacher, so on and so forth. Can I just ask you one question? We’re
going to do a spiritual check-up right now. In whom, or in what do you place your
confidence? If your answer is anything but the Lord (God), then we have a great
place to start. Start with that, just as David begins his psalm this way. “In the Lord I
take refuge.”
Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 11:1
In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
Flee like a bird to your mountain,David is under immense pressure and is constantly under threat from his enemies.
What we can imply from the first verse is that those who were with him were
perhaps discouraged or tempted to abandon their faith either in David or in God.
That’s why David begins with his affirmation of his faith. “It is in the Lord that I
take refuge.” In his response, we can also gather that some may have been
suggesting he set his faith aside in order that they might escape their present
danger. But David recognizes that God is the foundation of his life. If David was to
ever be delivered, it would be God who would do it.
I love how a commentator puts it,
“Under the circumstances he might not be able to forestall a time when he would
tremble upon that Rock, but he knew that the rock would never tremble under
him.”
I love that. You see, the Christian who places their trust in God is never promised
that he or she would be spared from hardship and difficulty. But, we are promised
that God will never leave us nor forsake us. We may tremble upon the Rock, but
the Rock upon which we stand will never be shaken.
We can imagine in David’s response asking this question. “How can anyone think
that forsaking our faith in God would be a good idea when the going gets tough or
when life gets difficult? Isn’t it better to face any difficult situation in life with the
Lord than without Him?”
In the next two verses we will see why David’s associates were so troubled.
Psalm 11:2-3
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?You see in the eyes of those who were with David, they were falling into despair
and couldn’t see a way out of their present trial. They are looking at everything
through worldly lenses. Don’t you see David? Can’t you see that the wicked have
bent their bow; they’ve fitted their arrow and are about to strike us down?
I can imagine that these men that were with David, getting annoyed with him. The
whole house is on fire and you’re just chilling there saying everything is going to
be fine. Come on David, use some common sense and let’s get out of here!
But you see, David wasn’t just looking through a worldly lens. He had his spiritual
lenses on. He wasn’t overly concerned with answering the question, what can
man do, but rather his mind was set on what God could do. Again, in whom or in
what do we place our ultimate trust. And when we say, God, are we just paying lip
service and simply voicing the right answer without it really having any impact on
our lives, or do we actually believe it and live in a way where that trust is evident?
Or do we say, I trust God, “but…”. Do you know that whenever you use the word
“but” after something, you’ve just negated everything that you said before it? “I
trust God but, I need to do this or that.” “I trust God but, I need to make sure this
is done, and this is where it needs to be…” I trust God but…. Where I want us all to
be, for all of us in this room here today, is for us to get to a point where we come
to trust God, and feel in our hearts and express with our mouths that “we trust
God period.”
“But Mark, what about the government shutdown?” “But Mark, what about the
political tension?” “But Mark, what about the school systems allowing pride flags
and…..”
Friends when it all comes down to it, all I’m hearing is talk about bent bows and
fitted arrows. I’m not making light of these things, and I don’t mean to be
insensitive to them. I only bring them up because that’s the reality we are living in.
A few years ago, I would be talking about Covid. Bent bows, and fitted arrows.
“Mark, do you see them?” “Yes, I see them, but do you see my God?”
David’s associates are worried about the foundations being wiped out beneath
them. I look around today, and I see the moral decline of our country. The rise of
atheism and agnosticism. The fact that many institutions of higher educationteaches moral relativism which is a moving away from the belief in absolute truth.
And these foundations of belief are no small things and the longer I live, the more
I am realizing that perhaps, these things may in fact be eradicated from the fabric
of society and what will we have left to stand upon? I hope it’s God. He is the only
sure foundation that we have in this life.
Now, it is my personal conviction that we don’t just let things slip away towards
ungodliness and moral depravity. I believe we ought to stand up for the truth and
to engage in the educational and political arenas where policy either stands or
falls. But the point I want us all to arrive to is this. That if these things do in fact
fall away, we will still have a firm foundation to stand upon.
Here's David’s response to his friends.
Psalm 11:4
The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
We have this affirmation that God is in his holy temple. He is on the throne. He is
Lord forever and ever and there are no term limits. All authority is His and no one
could ever take it away.
And then we see this peculiar phrase, “His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of
man.”
Some translations have “The Lord examines.” This is more than merely observing.
Just as we have exams in school, these exams are tests of our knowledge. And why
does God test us? Well a few weeks, ago I explained how God sometimes holds us
in the fire so that all our impurities are burned away until we reflect His image.
I heard the other day that Christians are a lot like tea bags. You don’t quite know
how strong they are until they are placed in hot water. It’s easy to say you’re a
Christian when there’s no opposition. It’s easy to say you’re a Christian when life is
going well. There are people in our world today who have lost everything becauseof their faith in Jesus. How would we fare when held to the fire? Some of you are
in the fire right now.
I have a guiding principle that goes like this. “Every challenge is an opportunity.”
Challenges, trials, hardships are opportunities for growth. And when you place
your ultimate hope in God, He will see you through to the other side and make no
mistake about it. Through it all, He is shaping you and molding you into the person
He wants you to be. Like any good father, God allows us to experience things we
may not always like or want, but it’s exactly what we needed.
I’ve heard it put this way,
“To grow and develop as God’s children, one needs to face times of testing. A
loving parent will encourage a little one to take his first steps, knowing that he
may fall, but also believing that he will get up and try again. Such testing from God
is directed both to our good and to His glory.”
I remember as a kid, I was standing at the edge of the pool and my dad standing in
the pool with his arms stretch out ready to catch me.
“Go ahead jump! I’ll catch
you. Trust me. I know it’s scary but I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
And man, I know sometimes our earthly parents can fail us. So, if there’s any kind
of apprehension about putting that much trust in anything or anyone, I want to let
you know that there is only one that will never fail us, and that’s God, our
heavenly Father. And if our Heavenly Father says, “I’ve got you,” He’s got you.
The testing of our faith is a test of our fidelity toward the one in whom we place
our trust. David is steeped heavily in the midst of danger and strife. So too are the
men who are with him. There are those who are saying, “forget this, I’m out of
here.” And one is saying, “God, I trust you.” Who do you identify with most in this
scenario?
Consider what James says.James 1:2-4
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you
know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness
have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Times of testing are rarely convenient, but they are necessary for our growth and
for our good.
Psalm 11:5
The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
There is a direct contrast between the way God works upon the righteous and the
way he works upon and how He views the wicked. Several weeks ago we covered
what it means for God to hate the wicked. How can an all loving God hate? Here’s
another question we must ask then. How can a most Holy God and an all
righteous God not hate that which is evil and wicked? Another way to put it is,
what other attitude toward evil would be consistent with the nature of a righteous
God?
Here's the thing. It is not hopeless for those given to wickedness. If they but turn
to God and turn from their wicked ways, they will be shown mercy.
What we have here in verse 5 is a dichotomy, the comparing of two unlike things.
The Lord tests the righteous. It is not so with the wicked. Is this not consistent
with the later teaching that God disciplines those He loves? Just as discipline is
reserved for those who are faithful, so too are the tests and trials that the faithful
endure. And so we should not be surprised when our lives are filled with strife,
while the person down the street given to moral depravity lives in luxury and
relative ease (of course using a worldly standard).
Psalm 11:6
Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.Now, this doesn’t sound all that Christian-like does it? First of all, David isn’t a
Christian. Second of all, that fact is irrelevant because Jesus hadn’t come yet. Third
of all, there are a lot of things that don’t sound Christian-like to the world, but in
fact are. And the opposite is true. There are a lot of things that don’t sound
Christian-like but are. What David is requesting of God here, is for justice to come.
And justice means that there will be two camps. One will enjoy safety and security
and joy in Christ for all eternity. The other will experience eternal torment in hell.
Both are the appropriate outcomes of justice being carried out.
As Christians it’s uncomfortable to talk about hell. I understand that. It’s a terrible
thing to think about. But if we don’t talk about hell in our conversations with the
unsaved, we will simply be telling them they need to be saved (that’s all well and
good), but they won’t know what in the world they need to be saved from.
Did you know that Jesus talks about hell more than anyone in the Bible? Let’s take
a glimpse at what he had to say about it.
Matthew 13:41-42
41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all
causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In
that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Friends, hell is no party as some would suggest. It is a place of darkness and
loneliness. The consequence for those who are not justified by the blood of Christ
will experience eternal torment. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and
this is meant to depict the deepest form of regret. Now, we may not know exactly
what hell is like, but the Bible gives us enough to know that it is not a place any of
us will want to be. John in his revelation given to him by Jesus tells of the burning
lake of fire.
Now some may argue, well it’s not talking about a literal lake of fire. My response
is simply, well even if it isn’t a literal lake of fire, what in the world does it
represent? It most certainly isn’t something soft and cozy and pleasant. As is the
typical pattern of illustrative examples, the thing that is being pointed to is far
more potent than the picture it is described with. And so, if not a lake of fire, wecannot assume it is anything less than that, but rather it is likely something far
worse than what we would imagine a lake of fire to be.
I know a lot of people today do not like the idea of fear being a motivator, but I
believe this kind of fear, a righteous sort of fear is a gift from God that can be
employed in a way that allows us to take that step of faith to trust in Him. Yes, we
must tell people about Jesus and that he came to save us. It is even better when
people know what they are being saved from.
And now we come to our final verse for today.
Psalm 11:7
For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
This ends on a hopeful note, an uplifting one. This is our hope for those who trust
in God. I can just picture in my mind, our heavenly Father telling His children, head
up little one, “I’ve got this.”
Mathew 13:43
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He
who has ears, let him hear.
