Psalm 11 Amplified Bible
The Lord a Refuge and Defense.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
11 In the Lord I take refuge [and put my trust];
How can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to your mountain;
2
For look, the wicked are bending the bow;
They take aim with their arrow on the string
To shoot [by stealth] in darkness at the upright in heart.
3
“If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”
4
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of men.
5
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
And His soul hates the [malevolent] one who loves violence.
6
Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire;
Fire and [a]brimstone and a dreadful scorching wind will be the portion of their cup [of doom].
7
For the Lord is [absolutely] righteous, He loves righteousness (virtue, morality, justice);
The upright shall see His face.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
What does it mean to ‘rend the heart,’ and not just the clothing?
Much more than simply giving a whole array of apologies for bad behaviour.
David the Psalmist is urging the people to remember God’s covenant promises.
It’s easy to make outward shows of penitence without reaching inward to the heart.
David calls for the same depth of repentance which Jesus calls for.
To that end, as we once again prepare ourselves for tomorrow, Ash Wednesday for me to reminds each of us that Lent is so very much more than simply a time apologize for our “weaknesses” so just to ‘get my life back on track,’ as it were.
Lent is a time of focusing what ought to be our habit of seeing the heart anyway.
Above all, Lent reminds us of the character of God, which we all too easily lose sight of when we stray from those habits of the heart: forgiving and gracious, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
But, once we commit ourselves to the works of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, once we send our hearts into engaging with the sword of God’s Word,
It is promised by the Lord that changes and transformations will take place.
When those changes and transformations start and God is getting under our skins, into our souls, there is no stopping God from achieving His desired ends.
It is only a matter of choosing our desired response – run to self or run to God.
Build our own Castles, taking safe refuge in our own self defense mechanisms, or as the Prophet Isaiah predicted would one day have to happen to humanity;
Isaiah 2:2-5Amplified Bible
2
Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be [firmly] established as the [a]highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
3
And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4
And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;
And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.
5
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
In our hearts an in our souls …
The Mountain of the Lord is firmly established as the Highest Mountain.
When the people say … come, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord,
To the House of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways …
That we may walk in His paths…”
Then the Revival of our Hearts and our Souls may truly have their re-birth.
O’ House of Jacob …
O’ Body of Christ …
O’ Child of God …
COME …
Choose This Day Where You Should Run For Refuge
11 In the Lord I take refuge [and put my trust];
How can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to your mountain; [Psalm 11:1]
When it comes to degrees and measures of crises in our life, it is not a matter of whether they will come but when and then just how hardcore they will be.
When they do arrive in whatever capacity and catastrophe, our response will be to flee to a safe refuge— a safe haven somewhere or something or someone we implicitly trust will keep us safe and protect us from all the pounding storms.
So the question then will not be whether we will flee but where we will flee to.
Some of us will take the advice of David’s friends in Psalm 11.
These advisors urged him to “flee like a bird to your mountain.”
Difficulty had come for David, seemingly in the form of threats to his life, with wicked people preparing to aim their arrows at him (Psalm 11:2).
The counsel he received was essentially to head for the hills, to get away, to go somewhere that removed him from adversity as fast as he could if not faster.
David did not heed this advice.
But what about you?
But what about me?
While you and I likely will never face armed foes threatening you with violence, and for those whose lives intersected with combat zones, crisis will come to you someday, in one form or another, in some measure and some degree or another.
It could be social pressure, peer pressure, to compromise biblical convictions, an unwanted diagnosis, or intense relational or financial or an personal strife.
Where will you flee?
Where will I flee?
Will we too head for the hills, finding some form of escapism, be it an effort at numbing yourself with endless media consumption or abusing a substance, or throwing yourself into hyperdrive, frenetic activity in another part of your life?
Or will you and I be able to say with David, “In the LORD I take refuge”?
David had seen God deliver him from bears, lions, and a Philistine giant.
The Lord had more than sufficiently proven Himself to be a trustworthy refuge, and David remembered those moments and took that to heart, relying on God.
David knew the Lord was a mighty refuge; that had been borne out again and again in his life – his trust in God was grounded and rooted deep in experience, making it sturdy enough to withstand life’s darkness and the Evil One’s darts.
Have your eyes been opened to God’s trustworthiness?
Have you trusted Him in response?
If you are a Christian, remember that your new life began by taking refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once, you were facing the wrath of an eternal God, with no hope to be found.
The only hope you had was to cast yourself on God’s mercy and embrace the salvation offered in Christ, and so you fled to Him and found eternal refuge.
God desires for you and me to seek refuge in Him not only at the beginning of the journey but until Christ returns or calls us home, and not only for eternal salvation but in the measures and degrees of storms of this concourse of life.
Trouble will come—and when it does, you can either head for the hills or you can lift up your eyes beyond the hills and to the Lord “who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2), facing the crisis with 100% confidence and, yes, even joy.
100% Trust, Confidence and yes, even Joy … in God, the Father.
100% Trust, Confidence and yes, even Joy … in God, the Son.
100% Trust, Confidence and yes, even Joy … in God, the Holy Spirit.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, we pray for your great mercy, that you guide us towards you, for we cannot find our way. And guide us to your will, to the need of our soul, for we cannot do it ourselves. And make our mind steadfast in your will and aware of our soul’s need. Pray, Lord, to shield us against our foes, seen and unseen. Teach us to do your will, that we may inwardly love you before all things with a pure mind. For you alone are our maker and our redeemer, our help, our very best friend, comfort, our trust, our hope; praise and glory be to you now and forever.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 