Psalms 11 | Crush Fear With The Truth About God
Verses 1-3:
This is a Psalm that we ought to study, pray, and take before the Lord. Every single one of us is in this Psalm.
We acknowledge:
- This is a Psalm of David
- This Psalm is addressed to the Choirmaster (so we can know this is a Psalm that was used in temple worship)
- We don’t know the occasion for why David composed this Psalm but there is speculation that it was written when David was on the run after Jonathan had warned him that Saul was coming for him; perhaps after David had heard what Saul did to Abimelech and the Priests at the city of Nob. We don’t know.
3 things I think we will see as we make our way through Psalm 11:
- That we walk by faith; not by sight.
- We can crush fear with the truth of Who God is.
- A deeper understanding of the attributes of God is the greatest defense against the fear caused by what we see with our eyes.
I think we can see WHY this was a Psalm used in worship. We can readily see that the first part is written something like a rebuke to fear and then becomes this incredible song of strength in the Lord. In the first 3 verses, David repeats back either what was said to him or he was simply reflecting the panic in the heart or hearts of those who uttered what David wrote. David declares in verse 1, “In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul…”? He essentially asks, “How dare you tell me that I should act otherwise and run in fear?”. We are often reminded from this very pulpit that we are wise to start with what we know to be true about God and then use THAT to judge our circumstances. That’s the basis for our reliance on the Lord. That He is Who He says He is and He does what He says He will do. Why does it take seemingly our whole lives to learn that? Unless you’re a very new Christian, you should be able to look back at myriad examples over the years of when the Lord came through for you. All sorts of examples of God’s Providence in your life.
David rejects the cry to cut & run. It wasn’t necessarily BAD advice – but it was FEARFUL advice. I think most of us can relate to that. Oftentimes, walking in faith flies in the face of human wisdom. Faith rarely “makes sense” in the human sense. It doesn’t make any “sense” that God would have Pastor Dale and Denise get married after only 10 days, never having seen each other. Faith doesn’t make “natural” sense. We can think of so many examples in our own lives & from scripture. Faith rarely makes sense in the world’s eyes – it rarely makes sense in our OWN eyes and we have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit who GIVES us the faith that we’re talking about.
When I was 21 years old, I had no real, biblical understanding of who God was. It was easy to see why: I wasn’t in His word. A few rhetorical questions to see my ignorance of Him:
- Is God bored?
- Is God malicious?
- Does God enjoy inflicting pain?
- Is God twisted?
Does that describe the God of the Bible? Of course not! But that’s who I thought God was based on what was happening in my life. I was so convinced that God was out to torture me, that I ended up putting the barrel of a loaded shotgun in my mouth to end it all. About to make a terrible, final mistake. But in the end God SHOWED ME WHO HE ACTUALLY WAS.
But what if I had truly understood WHO GOD WAS in those days, as He revealed Himself in His word? What if I DID stand upon what WAS true about the Lord, and then used THAT to judge my circumstances? I would have judged the situation MUCH differently and I wouldn’t have put a gun in my mouth. So I would encourage you today to be JUST AS SINCERE in knowing Who God REALLY is, as He has revealed Himself in scripture. Because just like a FAULTY understanding of the truth of Who God is almost cost me my life, a Biblical understanding of the truth of Who God is will save your life.
Verse 4-7:
David continues, “(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.”. It’s as though David is saying “Oh you want me to be afraid? YOU be afraid! “The Lord is on the Throne!”. Oh you want me to be reasonable and open my eyes to the dangers around me and make the smart choice to hide? YOU go hide! “The Lord is in heaven, He is in control, and He sees all.”.
David declares that the Lord tests His children (the “righteous”). But then David quickly instructs his listeners that God HATES the wicked. God TESTS the righteous but He HATES the wicked. Let’s define terms real quick: in the Old Testament times, the righteous were those seen as having right-standing with God. The wicked obviously were not. So when God sends calamity for example, it’s different for us as God’s kids. We who are in Christ are to understand that we are being sanctified, not judged. We’re kept from judgement because Christ was already judged in our place. God doesn’t judge sin twice. It was paid for at Calvary. When God forgives us, our sins are gone forever. And until the day that God violates His nature and decides to change, our sins never return to the mind of God who has pardoned us. But for the unrepentant, God’s wrath is still very much upon them. God’s love certainly IS extended to those who are lost – dead in trespasses and sin. I mean, how else do you explain our own salvation? While we were yet sinners, while we were still enemies of God, He loved us and died in our place that WE may live. But for the unrepentant sinner, only the Wrath of God is available to them in eternity.
A word on God “testing” the righteous: God “tests” us but not for His benefit. That is to say, not for HIS diagnostic purposes, not for HIS knowledge but for our OWN. The test is really OURS. Testing will come but we in Christ have right-standing with God. The world does not. Ergo, God’s hand upon us is a little different than God’s hand upon the world and it’s system.
Look at all the fear that gripped the world over COVID. Is COVID real? Of course. Do people die from it? Yes. But what’s my response to that fear? We cannot trust circumstances and situations in the natural by what we see. We can’t have faith when we’re walking by sight. Even in the secular world, when it comes to crime for example, eyewitness testimony is UNRELIABLE. STOP RELYING ON WHAT YOU SEE! In the courtroom of man, eyewitness testimony is unreliable. In the courtroom of GOD, what you see with your natural eyes is UNRELIABLE! Why else are we repeatedly admonished in scripture to walk by faith, NOT BY SIGHT? Because our eyes CONSTANTLY deceive us as to the truth of God.
This Psalm is about developing confidence in the Lord based on the truth about Him as revealed in Scripture. This passage shows us how to stand on what we know to be true about God and thereby walk in faith while we are assailed by what is happening (or appears to be happening) in the natural when we walk by sight. This is a remedy for that.
So, in conclusion:
- Walk by faith
How do we do that?
- Stand upon the truth of the Lord
How do we do that?
- Declare what God reveals about Himself in His word as a defense against our fear in the circumstance
What happens as a result of doing those 3 things?
- We crush our fears under the weight of the truth of our Father’s Word!