Absolute
Trust

“In the LORD put I my
trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? “ –
Psalm 11:1

The impulse to
flee is one of two that we face in any crisis situation. Fight and
flight are the two extremes that confront humans. But there is a
third option that occupies the seat of grace – it is to flow and to
let God’s grace flow through you as you flow with the circumstances
of life. Flowing does not require denial of danger. It acknowledges
the truth of the situation, but embraces a greater truth in the mix
of reality. It is the truth of God’s presence, His power, and His
love. It is the truth that in Him we have a sturdy and steady refuge
from danger. In God’s mercy, we neither run to the mountains to
avoid potential pain nor stand to fight our battles ourselves alone.
The life of faith is a journey of trust and balance. Find your refuge
in God today.

“For, lo, the wicked bend
their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may
privily shoot at the upright in heart. “ – Psalm 11:2

Wickedness
lives in the midst of dark shadows. It attacks without warning and
without rules of engagement. The snipers of sin and temptation align
with the forces of discouragement, bitterness, despondency, and
cynicism to derail our growth in grace and righteousness. Satan would
have us flee to the hills and abandon our God-given assignments. Or
he would be equally pleased if we would take the battle in our own
strength and suffer defeat at his hand. God calls us to take refuge
in Him. His is the battle; He is our protector, defender, and friend.
Do not be discouraged, dismayed, or shocked by the sinister conniving
of evil. Satan is an accuser and liar and hides in darkness. Bring
every thought, motive, and deed to the light. Allow every memory that
pains the heart to come into the brilliance of God’s grace. Then we
can speak as forthrightly and with the same matter-of-factness as the
psalmist. Then we can bring these matters that once caused us to
tremble before a God who already knows and cares. Then we can take
refuge in Him.

Foundations:
Faulty and Sure

“If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do? “ – Psalm 11:3

Who
has not expressed such a lament in the recesses of a discouraged
heart?  If indeed, the foundations are destroyed, there is not much
the righteous can do. The righteous person depends upon foundations
to stand under the weight of external conflict and internal stress.
There are values and beliefs in which we invest ourselves. We call
them ultimate and we hang our lives upon them. There are irreducible
standards that we set for our families, our communities, and
ourselves. When these are threatened, we are flung into chaos and
spasmodic reaction. We cry out to God in utter desperation and
confusion. “God,” we cry, “ is there nothing that is sacred,
nothing that is permanent, nothing that cannot be destroyed by the
forces that afflict with without and within?” And God answers us
that what we thought were the foundations were only part of the
extended structure of our lives, that He is our true foundation and
He will never be shaken. Paul concluded that no other foundation can
be laid than that which is laid: Jesus Christ (I Cor. 3:” – Psalm
11). Anything else can be destroyed, but the believer whose life is
planted in Jesus Christ cannot be toppled. Trust Him in the midst of
the quaking of the earth and the battering of the storm.

“The LORD is in his holy
temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his
eyelids try, the children of men. “ – Psalm 11:4

When
the foundations are seemingly being destroyed, God remains securely
seated in His holy temple and rules from His throne. There is no
interruption in His reign, no pause in His oversight, and no cause
for concern by His subjects. He is the true foundation that cannot be
shaken. He is our refuge. He is our sure protection in times of
trouble. Nothing escapes His constant attention. When, in the
bleakest moments, all that is right appears vanquished, He speaks and
the frayed strands of time and space come into their proper order. We
are not a patient people. We are easily stirred from our strident
faith. We become disturbed by the news, by prognosticating
commentaries on our times, and by our own emotions. We gaze into our
problems with such intensity that we, for a moment, lose sight of God
on His throne. But He is there. He has not moved. He will not be
displaced, replaced, or ultimately ignored. The greatest relevance in
the universe is that God is active and alive in His Holy temple
supervising and involved in the affairs of men and women. Tune your
hearts to that reality today and live in joyful confidence in God.

God
is watching. There is a popular song that announces that truth but
distorts it with the words, “from a distance.” That is only
half-true. There will always be a distance between God and man
because He is God and we are men – but that is a distance of
essential nature that Jesus bridged and brought us into intimate
fellowship with the Father. Even those who do not know Him are known
by Him for He is as imminent as He is transcendent.  Some envision a
God so far away that He requires a telescope to observe us, but it is
with His eye that He watches and nothing escapes His notice. He
examines us with such divine scrutiny that all is known, even that
which our hearts cannot acknowledge in awareness. Knowing that God
knows frees us in prayer to be absolutely honest. It liberates us
from the limitations of language to open ourselves to Him. He knows
every circumstance and every deed done in darkness or in light. He
has all the information and, in His wisdom, is the only true and
reliable interpreter of history and current events. It would behoove
us to withhold judgment until He speaks in a matter for we see only
within a thin spectrum of all that is. He sees all. Understand that
as you meet Him in prayer today.

The
God Who Sees

“The LORD trieth the
righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul
hateth. “ – Psalm 11:5

Does this
bother you? Are you disturbed by the psalmist’s assertion that
there are people who God’s soul hates? Let me ask you this: at your
best, how do you feel about that part of you that loves wickedness
and violence? Do you not repudiate that false self within you in
order to embrace the Christ-life which is the truth about who you are
and who God made you to be? Doesn’t God know that the false self
within you wars against the true you that He loves passionately and
sacrificially? We must embrace this paradox in our understanding of
God if we are to fully appreciate His love. It is love that produces
this level of hate because it is wickedness and violence that destroy
those made in the Father’s image. He despises that which destroys
what He loves. Ask Him for a special grace today to hate within you
that which destroys you and your relationship with Him and know that
His love for you is so deep and strong that He will fight for you
against all wickedness and violence.

“Upon the wicked he shall
rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall
be the portion of their cup. “ – Psalm 11:6

There is
another dimension of this hate that God has for the wickedly violent:
judgment. When we try to assign human emotion to God it is called
“anthropomorphism.” That is a complicated word that means any
attempt to understand something other than a human being by human
standards. God’s hate is not man’s hate. Man expresses arbitrary
hatred based upon emotional considerations (or lack thereof). God’s
anger is against anything that goes against Him and it is expressed
in wrath and judgment. Even that is paradoxical for He is, at the
same time, actively and lovingly reaching out to the individual who
is embroiled in sin and rebellion. He judges the sin and the sinner
while sending His Son to take the penalty upon Himself and pleading
for all to come to repentance. When we would understand the horror of
the wrath of God, physical descriptions are required to impress upon
us how awful it is to come under His judgment. The reality is more
horrible. To go against God is to place ourselves in the concentrated
path of all the evil He is flushing out of a sinful world to fashion
His Kingdom. Take this truth and embrace it. In Christ, you are not
under judgment. Cheer for the triumph of God’s will and invite all
that will hear to come into His merciful grace. Pray for the victory
of truth, righteousness, and holiness in your own life and in the
life of your community.

The
God Who Loves Righteousness

“For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance
doth behold the upright. “ – Psalm 11:7

God is
righteous. That means that everything about Him is fully integrated
into His holy character – He is 100% pure truth, love, goodness,
and holiness. There are no contradictions in God – except those
that we contrive in our own misunderstanding of Him. He loves
justice. His heart delights in seeing things set aright. He loves
consistency in our lives. He takes joy when His truth is integrated
into the loose dimensions of our lives and we come into right
relationship with Him. There is a promise in this verse, that the
upright will see His face. What a glorious affirmation! The more we
seek Him, the more our hearts are changed by His power within us and
the clearer our vision of Who He is becomes. We can see God. His
grace in Jesus Christ removes the scales from our eyes so that we may
have a glimpse in this life and the hope of full disclosure in the
life to come. Let that truth sink into the pores of your being today
and celebrate it as you walk through the maze of confusing messages
and distorted truth. You can see God.