The text this evening, if you haven't looked, is Psalm 11. It can be found on page 533 on your pew Bibles. That's page 533, Psalm 11. We'll be reading all seven verses. I must confess, while I'm up here, that if I seem like I'm gripping tight, for whatever reason, I'm feeling lightheaded. So if I go down, Monica, you're over there. Dr. Tan, you're right there. If I go down, I feel safe. But just know that's why the death grip is on the pulpit this evening. But perhaps I can take encouragement from the passage we're about to read. Psalm 11. This is the word of the Lord.
Psalm 11: "In the Lord I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird to your mountain? 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. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 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 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. For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteous deeds. The upright shall behold his face."
Thus far the reading of God's word.
So recently, I've been watching an old 90s cartoon with my oldest son, Sam. Those who are my age, you might be familiar with this cartoon. It was called simply Doug. This show follows an adolescent or a teen boy who moves to a new town, and it follows him throughout the just The different events that happen in his life the way it does so is it it picks up on diary entries that he puts every episode starts with him writing "Dear Diary," and he's recounting the events that he's reflecting on. In the first episode, what we find is he moves to a new town, and what we find in his diary entry is that his world has been turned upside down.
Now, in the diary entry and throughout the show, one of the things that goes on is that you get this inner dialogue that is going on internally with him. And you're picking up on how he's perceiving things. So you get his imagination, whether it be things positive or his imagination of things that hurt his deepest fears and distress him. So in this case, from the very beginning, as I said, he's moving to a new town, and he says, "Dear Diary, today I heard the three worst words a kid could hear from their parent: we are moving."
Now, to us that might not seem like a big deal. But for anyone who's been younger and had to move, you might be able to relate to how that is a very distressing situation, where everything you knew, everything you found comfort in, is about to change. Now, while this is a cartoon and it's make-believe, does this not, though, tap into the internal piercing of dread and anxiety that we experience from time to time in our lives?
Now, it could be a sudden health crisis that you or a loved one is experiencing. It could be a death in your family or someone close to you. It could be anxiety over your financial situation or anxiety over your job situation. Further, it could even be wrestling with doubts about God, doubts about his existence or if he's there, if he's working, or your assurance of your faith. These types of things, they can make our worlds feel like they've been turned upside down. They can shake the foundations of our lives. And in these times, where do we turn? Times like this, times of fear, times of chaos, times of uncertainty. These adjectives describe the time that we find, or where we find David, as we come to this psalm.
As we read this psalm and as we reread or consider this psalm, we feel the weight of his plight. His world is turning; it's changing. But we also see in this man's turmoil, we see it turning into a time of confidence for him, a confidence in the Lord. And then we learn about who this Lord is. And what we learn about this Lord is that he is the Lord who is in heaven and he is a refuge to the upright in heart.
Now, as we explore this this evening, we will be working with three points: That is, the need for refuge, the giver of refuge, and the attainment of refuge. The need for refuge, the giver of refuge, and the attainment of refuge.
So why was refuge needed? If you look with me again and we reread verses 1 through 3 since they're short, it says, the psalm immediately informs us, as I alluded to, that there is a time of distress, a time of uncomfort that is going on. There is danger that is imminent. It is creeping in on David. Now, we don't know what the specific instance that is going on in David's life is here, but we know from 1 and 2 Samuel and the Chronicles, we know that David faced many times in his life where the walls were essentially caving in on him. We can think of whenever he had to flee from Saul, as Saul pursued him. We can even think of the times where he had to flee from Absalom. Whatever the instance, what we know is that there is a great danger that exists, and it is getting closer to him.
Now, in the face of this danger, something is said to David that invokes a response, which is this song. Something stirs him up. Now, again, we don't know the specifics. It could be said to him in the form of a taunt that is basically a mocking of his faith in God. how could you stay here? Why don't you just go flee away like a little bird? Or it could have been his advisors who are standing there as the walls are caving in, as the enemy is coming closer, saying, "Flee, save yourself. Let's go to the mountain." Either way, in the face of what is said to him, one question comes to David's mind: "How could someone say this to me? How can you say this to me?"
Now, let's look more at what exactly is said to him. The first thing that's said is "flee like a bird to your mountain." Now, this bird imagery, it calls to mind the idea of a bird frantically fleeing danger. Have you ever been able to walk up to a bird outside of a zoo and simply touch the bird? No. What happens every time we walk up to a bird? The bird flies away. It gets out of dodge. Here, the word that's used for flea, it's translated at sometimes, or in some instances, it's translated as "flutter," as in "flap its wings." It's an interesting thing that's going on here with the imagery that the word carries here. But it can also carry the meaning of being homeless or wandering like a refugee. What it's carrying out is this idea of displacement. David's being displaced.
Now, the reference to a mountain, it calls to mind a place of refuge on this earth. Now, Dr. Vanny's not here, but I'm sure he could tell you, if you haven't been to Israel, it's a very rocky and hilly place. There's a lot of hills, a lot of high mountainous areas. Back then, that was a place of refuge. For back then, there was no air force to come do air combat, so you didn't have to worry about the enemy coming at you from above. In fact, it was also advantageous for you as much as it was safe. For the artillery back then was not that advanced that it could really get to you. And for the enemy, as they're coming to attack you, they have to go uphill. Anyone who's tried to go hike over at Daily Ranch, you know what I'm talking about when you go up that steep incline on that path right away. That gets pretty tiring. If you're trying to race up there to attack someone, by the time you get to the top, you're going to be gassed. You're going to be tired. For those that are finding refuge in the hill, they have the advantage. They're looking down. They could throw rocks down. They could shoot their arrows down. They have clear sight of what's going on. So to say "go to a mountain," that is the greatest refuge on earth that could be sought here for David.
Now, moving on, we're sold that the wicked, they're introduced here for the wicked they bend the bow now the imagery here is of attackers with their arrows drawn. They're lying in wait whatever or whoever is assailing David here, they're lying in wait, and when they attack, as much as David knows and they're aware that this enemy is creeping in, when the attack happens, it's going to be sudden. They shoot at the upright and heart in the dark. It's going to come on them very suddenly. One can think of how the archers in war at this time the myriad of archers as they launched their arrows it would be raining arrows on the enemy and the enemy would be trying to scatter and flee but there's so many arrows it would be hard for them to dodge these arrows and this would be coming suddenly at David and those around him. So with all this impending danger that is there, finally, we come to the last part in verse 3. "If the foundations are destroyed, the foundations, whatever safety that David had before, whether it be in the fortress of a city or whatever other comforts he had, whether it was people respecting him as the king or as a righteous man, those comforts, those safeties, they're gone. The foundations have crumbled. And he is in a very extremely helpless position. He's very vulnerable.
Now, most of us, thankfully, have never had to run for our lives. We've never been in a situation like this where we've had to flee an enemy. But most of us have been in a similar situation as David, where we felt the foundations being broken. We've seen the foundations in our lives falling apart. Our world is turned upside down. Foundations could be at the societal level. We can think of the government. While I know there's differing views on our government, we at least here are not in a situation where simply preaching the gospel means that the doors are being knocked down and we're being dragged out and beaten. We can speak our minds about our different political views for the most part. that's a comfort to us. Our economy, even when our economy is bad here in the United States, it's still we're still better off than much of the rest of the world that's a comfort. Our sources of food, whether it be from abroad or here that's a source of comfort. Recreation, we can go out to any park we want. We can go hike. We can go fish. We can go swim. We have a beach here. We can do these things at leisure. We're not restricted in any way. Life is in many ways a comfort for us. We have those foundations.
But we can go a step further. We can think about those personal comforts. It could be things such as your family. Your foundation in your life is your family. It could be friends. You find a great source of strength in your friends. Still, it could be relationships. Maybe it's your spouse. Your spouse, as I've said to my spouse, that she is my rock at times. Things like these, they're not inherently wrong. We find them as comforts for us. We can think of also things such as material things like our house or our finances or knowing simply that our future is certain. We know we have a job going into 2025. We know where we're going to be in 2025. All these things, as I said, they're not inherently wrong, but when oftentimes we are turning to them when we need them most, we find that they're almost illusions of safety.
An instance from history maybe carries this out for us to understand a little bit more. I've been reading about World War I, and as much as there was devastation in World War I on the battlefield, one of the things that I don't think gets enough attention is the devastation in Europe for the civilian life. See, in Germany and Austria, one of the things that they were dealing with was a food shortage. There was starvation that was creeping in, because Britain and France had a blockade going on. In Britain and France, their economies were taking hits. People were dealing also with attacks from Germany into their homeland, whether it be on land or from the air. Society was breaking down, though, in those countries because of these things. So we had food. That comfort, that foundation was gone. We had their economy. That was failing. Jobs were being lost. So what did they do in response? How did they try to keep that foundation? Where did they turn then? Well, they turned to trying to take control of the situation. So in some countries there were revolts. There were revolutions that happened. But in those attempts to gain control and make a foundation out of that, they failed. Things either stayed the same, or if anything else, they got worse. We can think of Russia at that particular time.
The question here is: where do we turn when our worlds are turned upside down? For David, he turned to the giver of refuge.
As we move to point two, we look at verses four through seven. It says, "The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven." Right away, David's not looking to anything on earth. Notice the contrast here between what he just said, or what was just compared in verse 3, and verse 4. "If the foundations speaking of something earthly are destroyed the foundations are shaking on earth. But what's going on in heaven? Heaven's not shaking. The Lord is there. He's in His holy temple. There's this contrast. There's this surety, assurance. There's a reason why we sing "Rock of Ages, cleft for me." But beyond that, it's not just where where he's turning; it's also who he's turning to. This is God, the Holy One. In this earthly temporal conflict that David's facing, as he's turning, he's not turning to another nation or an earthly king. He's turning to the heavenly King who is in heaven on His throne.
And what is it about this imagery of being on His throne? Now, I admit sometimes when you read that the Lord is on His throne, it can make you feel as if, okay, he's just sitting there, passive, just kind of taking things in. But that's not at all what David's saying. God is not on His throne here as some distant or aloof, uninterested God. No. This imagery of Him being on the throne is that He's reigning. He's in power. And as such, David has confidence to know what he's going to say later here that He will judge. This language is seen in a passage or in a verse like Isaiah 66 1 which says, "Heaven is My throne; the earth is My footstool," which is the Lord speaking in that verse. But knowing that He's actively reigning further tells us what God is doing in His holy temple.
We see that He's active. And what is He doing as He's active? Well, He's observing. He's observing what is plain and what is hidden. If you look with me, verse 4, the second part, it says, "His eyes. His eyelids. His eyes see; His eyelids test the children of man." Verse 5: "The Lord tests the righteous, but His soul hates the one the wicked and the one who loves violence."
As I said, He's observing what's going on, but He's also testing the children of man. And the righteous, He's looking closely at them. One of the words, uh or one of the glosses for the word here for "test," that I saw as I was preparing this was the idea of scrutinize. Scrutinize being looking closely, taking a very close look at everything going on. God's looking closely at everything that's going on, especially the righteous. And He's looking to see how, as they go through these trying times, how they are going to respond. And as we see this, that He's testing them, This is not an uncertain testing that is going on either. But rather, this is a time of refinement for the righteous.
We can think of Abraham when he was tested by God and called to go sacrifice Isaac. Recently, I've been reading parts of Job, and what Job went through: Job had no idea what was going on. You remember the beginning of Job, where Satan comes before God and God says, "What about My righteous man Job here?" And what follows after this? Job has no idea about any of the scene here between Satan and God. But there's this testing and this refining that happens with Job. For what happens to Job at the very end? Job's humbled. And for all his righteousness, he comes away seeing God as even greater than he saw God to begin with.
We can think of James, chapter 1, how in verses 2 through 3, "Count it all pure joy when you go through your trials, for trials produce steadfastness." And later it says in verse 12, "Blessed are those who are steadfast in their trials." In those moments, God has regard for the righteous. Here with David, David's acknowledging that He has regard for him.
But conversely, we find out how God is seeing the wicked. The second half here of verse 5: "But His, that is the Lord's, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence." This is not just saying that God is disproving of wickedness. The word literally here is "His soul." It's deep-seated. It's the innermost beings of God. And we know God is spirit. But for us, we know the innermost parts of us and what wells out of it. It's carrying that same type of idea and imagery with God. His soul hates the wicked. He has utter contempt for them and those who love violence.
And what we then get out of this is that God is perfectly just. For these wicked people, Those that are liars, cheats, murderers, selfish, greedy, and unjust. And it's not just those whose sins are obvious, but it's also the ones with their hidden sins. Those who are making deals behind closed doors. Those with ulterior motives when they come to try to convince someone of something. Those who are assailing the innocent and helpless. God sees those people. The wicked are not anonymous. God knows. Just as He has regard for the righteous, He knows who these wicked are. And He is a righteous judge.
How is He a righteous judge? We find that here in verse 6. "Let them rain coals on the wicked. Fire and sulfur, and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup." While the wicked shoot arrows, The Lord, He's raining coals of fire and brimstone of judgment on the wicked. Now the comparison of arrows, which have an effect here, and now, pale in comparison to fire and brimstone raining on them. This language of fire and brimstone here, it carries with it the recall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah, which is held up as God's ultimate judgment on wickedness in Scripture. We see it, obviously, in the beginning here in Genesis, but we also see it in Revelation. It's called to mind again, describing the judgment that God will carry out on the wicked.
This language of the great scorching wind in Israel, the wind during the spring and the summer, it's a very hot wind. We can think of our Santa Ana winds, but it's even hotter than that. It's so hot that it can cause devastation to things on the ground during that season when it's going. And this language of "a cup of their portion, what is it about that language? This saying comes from Israel at that time. In Israel, it's that idea of being at a dinner party. And the host of the dinner party, he hands a cup to drink to his guest. That guest is not getting up and getting whatever they want. They have to drink that cup that is given to them. That's their portion. That's their cup. They're not getting anything else. And so it is for the wicked.
Plainly here, it is revealed or said in this passage, but also elsewhere in Scripture, we can know that for the wicked, their destiny is set. Judgment will come upon them. And why can God do this? Because He is a righteous God. Verse 7: "For the Lord is righteous. His character is righteous. He loves righteous deeds. He is the antithesis of the wicked. He's a holy God. a holy And righteous God. He's a true refuge. and justice is found in Him and Him alone. Now, as we're going through this, and as you read through this perhaps you felt this tension though. There's a problem. In and of yourself, are you righteous? In and of myself, am I righteous? No one can stand in His presence, and yet we're told that "the righteous or the upright shall behold His face." How is that going to happen when we know our own selves?
Recall Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, when he was called up to the throne room, what did he do? He called curses on himself because he knew how sinful he was this a prophet of Yahweh calling curses because he was not righteous enough to be in the presence of God. in just a couple chapters later, here in Psalm, In the Psalms, chapter 14, verses 2 and 3, it says that "all are corrupt and there is not one righteous person." So how can an upright person see the face of God?
Another way of putting it, as we move to our third point: how do we attain this refuge? As sinners and sufferers, we live in this fallen world, and we're looking for that refuge. And what refuge is there for us because of this?
As sufferers, we have our various health sufferings that we have. We have our comforts that we see oftentimes taken away from us and make life a little difficult for us. We have anxiety in many cases. If you're a person who struggles with anxiety, you know how that can turn your life upside down when you're battling that. Still further, and for me, I find this the older I get, it seems like death stalks us. Whether it's those closest to us or we just find out about more and more people we know who have died, our worlds are turning upside down. But then we also know our sin. We know that we've lied. We know that we've had impure thoughts. We know that we've hated and we've murdered in our hearts. We know that we've disobeyed and not honored those in authority over us. In some, we know that we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. And we know that we have not loved our God perfectly. That fire and brimstone and scorching wind, That's the portion of our cups That's the cups we should be drinking.
But brothers and sisters, there's one who is perfectly upright. There is one who is perfectly righteous: the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He was tested and found to be pure. It was Jesus Christ. He is the one who did and does perfectly righteous deeds that the Lord loves. And it was in this context of this perfect love and this perfect righteousness that He drank the cup of our portion. He drank it down to the dregs. It's in Christ's death and resurrection that those who are in Christ are found to be upright. And because of that, they can find refuge in the Lord.
For the upright in Christ, it's not just a mere refuge, though. You might read this and think, "Okay, it's good to know that I can go to God." But this refuge is something that's way more intimate. It's not just saying that "the upright shall behold His face." No. I can say, "I see the faces of those sitting in the back pews." But if I had someone standing here next to me, is that not more intimate? Am I not closer to that person? Could I not find shelter if it started to rain in here? Someone put their jacket over me here as opposed to the person far away, even though I can see them. It's a more intimate thing to behold the face of Christ. You're in His presence. See, refuge in Christ, it's a refuge in finding safety and hope in the one who's also at the right hand of the Father. It goes beyond even what we can possibly think at face value. And as such, as we confessed earlier, He sits at the right hand of the Father. He is reigning now. And He will come to judge. And there is a day that will come where the wicked will be judged.
I liken something I saw recently. I was working at Meadowbrook, and they interview sometimes one of the residents and share kind of their thoughts on life and about them. And at the end, one individual had a quip where they said that they're not really worried about the world because they've read the book and they see how it ends. As believers, we've read the book. We see how it ends. And as His people, we know that we have a refuge.
In fact, as His people, we've been called to this refuge. Was it not our Lord who said, "Come to me, all you weary, and I will give you rest"?
Now, as I draw to a close, I know that my family's, we switched churches here recently, but in the past year, I know that in this congregation, having been part of it, there have been moments where the foundations have been shaken in the lives of those in this congregation. There have been tough times. And there have been times where those events have happened where maybe those in this congregation, they don't even know that those events happen. But brothers and sisters, as believers in Christ, you are the upright in heart. And because of this, you have refuge in Christ. The world may seem like it's turning upside down or spinning round and round, but He is in control. And He has you in His eyes, and He has you in the palm of His hand.
Now, you may be sitting there, and you may fear that your sin that you keep fighting in your life is keeping you from Him. The devil may be assailing you with temptation or just accusing you. But again, as one in Christ, He is your refuge, and you can draw near to Him with a true heart and full assurance of the faith. He is our refuge now. And though we ourselves might not see Him right now, He sees us. And He sees everything that we're going through. But with that, we have this hope: this hope that one day we will indeed behold His face.
Let's pray.
Lord, You are our refuge. Oftentimes, this world knocks us down. The things we face in our lives can shake us and shake us to our core. But Lord, time and time again in Your word, and especially here in this passage, this chapter of the Psalms, we get the promise that You know, that You know what we're going through, that You are our refuge, that You have regard for us, and that one day we have this hope that we will see You face to face.
We thank You, Lord, for Your mercy through Your Son, Jesus Christ, and we thank You for the gift of His Spirit who guides us day by day. We thank You for the fact that we are united to Christ by His Spirit. Lord, as we go forth this week and into the next year, Lord, help us to know and remember who our refuge is. and that's You. Lord, bless us this week as we go forth. We pray all this in Your Son, Jesus' name. Amen.