December 28
“In the Lord I put my trust; how can you say to my soul, ‘Flee as a bird to your mountain’? For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly 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 behold, His eyelids test the sons of men,” Psalm 11:1-4.
From this psalm, it would appear as if David was in great danger, and his advisers were telling him to get out of town, as we say. Just as a bird flees to a wooded area when there is danger, and perches high up in a tree for safety, so David’s advisers were telling him to flee and hide until the danger disappeared.
They warned David that his enemies were lying in wait with bow and arrow, ready to shoot at him secretly. David had to face many dangers during most of his life. Exactly to which period in his life this refers, we do not know. Whenever it was and whatever the danger was, David was not persuaded to go into hiding.
Right up front, David responded to his advisers, “In the Lord I put my trust.” There are numerous passages in Holy Scripture in which the Lord invites us and tells us to put our trust in Him. In the Book of Proverbs, we are told, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding,” Proverbs 3:5. If we lean on our own understanding and trust in ourselves, we will fall on our faces. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord,” Jeremiah 17:7.
In another psalm, David asks, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1.
David acknowledged, “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven.” With those words, David is saying that God is above all things, and He is ruling over all things. No one individually and no huge crowd that hates God can dethrone Him. He is the almighty God, the Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth.
There are no secrets kept from God. “His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.” God’s eyes have that penetrating look; He sees all and He knows all. All of the plotting and planning against David was known to God, and David trusted that God would protect him.
Whoever or whatever comes our way with the possibility or the express intent of hurting and harming us should move us to say with the psalmist, “In the Lord I put my trust!” Our gracious and merciful God promises that He will not leave us or forsake us, and we can count on Him to keep His word because He is God!
With the apostle Paul, we can ask, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31. Is God really for us? He demonstrated at Calvary that He is for us. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? . . . It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us . . . We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 8:32, 34, 37-38.
Dear gracious, loving, and forgiving God, into your hands we place our bodies and souls. In You we place our trust for time and eternity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.