By Pst. Ann Ngugi
In the Lord I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
2 For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot [a]secretly at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
4 The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be [b]the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
[c]His countenance beholds the upright. (Psa. 11, NKJV)
In the previous post, I highlighted four things from Psalm 11 and discussed two of them in detail: David’s trust in God and the advice he received from his friends to flee.
The third point highlighted by David in this chapter was that his foundations were being shaken, which was the reason his friends advised him to flee to the mountains.
Indeed, David’s foundations were being shaken. You can imagine that he started running for his life as a young man, and even after he got a wife, he was still on the run. He couldn’t settle in one place, no longer had the freedom to spend time with his best friend Jonathan, and couldn’t be at home with his family.
Amidst this uncertainty, he asked, “What do the righteous do when the foundations are shaken?”
His answer to this question, from verses 4 to 11, is quite interesting. In fact, it seems he does not directly tell us what to do.
Nevertheless, I submit to you that he does answer the question.
I want to call your attention to the fact that David says the Lord is in His temple. Note that by this time, the temple had not yet been built, as it was Solomon who built the temple. Also, David says that the Lord is on His throne.
What David was simply expressing was his assurance that God was on His throne, which meant that God is a King with the power and authority not only to preserve David but also to vindicate him against his enemies.
David then proceeds to say that the Lord tests the righteous. I am sure God had the power to give David the throne the day he was anointed. However, the waiting period was to allow God to train him to lead Israel.
David also notes that the eyes of the Lord behold the wicked, which should be encouraging to us. It reminds us that God sees the injustices done against us and will always raise a standard for us.
