(To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David.) In Jehovah have I put my trust how say ye to my soul, Flee [as] a bird to your mountain?
The psalm opens with trust already settled, and then advice aimed at the speaker's own soul: run away, hide in the hills. Who gives that advice, and why does faith refuse it?
Faith's refuge is real, but no one else can see it. That is why the mocking comes.
We begin with the LORD as the one thing strong enough to steady the soul. He, the living, unchanging God, is the sure refuge of the faith that clings to Him. Only the eye of faith sees this refuge. So men may mock and threaten the weakness that is all they can see. They do not see the arms that surround and hold the weak one. But he states his safety out loud, and the reasons for it. No one can rob us of it while we cling to it, and confidence grows as we say it.
The advice to flee is the world's advice: fall back on what you have stored up.
Whatever our difficulties may be, we must watch that they do not affect the state of our soul. If faith is active, we will refuse to look for help in outward circumstances. When we go through trials the world tells us: Look for your help in the mountain; use the resources you have laid up for yourself in this world. Faith answers with David: No, because there is no foundation here on earth that will not be destroyed. But "the LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD's throne is in heaven" (Ps. 11:4). That is where I take refuge.
With the foundations gone, running looks like the sensible answer.
Psalm 11 sees clearly that there is no hope in man on the earth, that nothing earthly is stable, and that evil has brought in ruin. The foundations are cast down, and what are the righteous to do?… There is a time when the Lord warns us to flee, when no action and no patience is of any use. That is not the case here. It is only so when God hands everything over to the wicked for a time. Fear and unbelief would urge flight, like a bird, away from the scene to a place of refuge and human security. Faith looks higher. "In the LORD I take refuge." Trust in the LORD, who is above all. Nothing is unknown to Him, and nothing escapes Him. His faithfulness never changes. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him. Whatever man's plans are, in the end He orders everything. He is our Father. Trust in Him is the resource and the peace-giving feeling of the righteous. By its very nature this gives a perfect walk and calmness at all times, because circumstances do not govern the feelings.
The opening line is a decision already made. It does not wait for the odds to improve.
This psalm expresses the resolve not to flee. For the righteous it was a question of absolute trust in the LORD, whatever the wicked might do or say. If every resource failed, that was simply the moment for Him to act for Himself and His own, as He surely will.
The same suggestion turns up elsewhere in Scripture.
Will he listen to those who advise him to "flee like a bird to your mountain"? (v.1). Satan wants to put the believer in fear. He used this method when trying to intimidate Nehemiah through Shemaiah's suggestion (Neh. 6:10-11), but Nehemiah was not deceived. He answered, "Should such a man as I flee?" Satan also influenced Pharisees to try the same trick on the Lord Jesus. They told Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you" (Luke 13:31). So David in this psalm chooses to trust in the Lord rather than give in to fright.
Commentators read the psalm as the voice of a suffering people still to come, yet not for them alone.
It is the utterance of the afflicted remnant in the last days. But Jesus was their pattern and forerunner in His sorrows at the hand of man.
The psalm looks on to a future trial of the godly. Yet the principles apply to God's people at any time while Christ is away, when evil works in secret and undermines the foundations of the Christian faith. Yet the believer's confidence is that the Holy Spirit is still on the throne in heaven. The believer knows what God is like. That assures him God must deal with the evil in due time and bring His people into blessing. For now He uses the evil for their good.
- Refuge first. Start where the psalm starts: God is the one stable thing. Everything else follows from that.
- Refuge unseen. Others mock because they see only your weakness, not the arms around you. Say your trust out loud, and confidence grows.
- Refuge rivalled. "Your mountain" is the world's offer: fall back on your own stored-up resources. No earthly foundation survives.
- Refuge tested. Fear says run. Faith looks higher. Nothing escapes God, so trust keeps you calm and circumstances stop ruling your feelings.
- Refuge shared. Nehemiah refused to flee. The Lord Jesus refused Herod's threat. The same holds for God's people now, and God turns even evil to their good.
For behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may in darkness shoot at the upright in heart.
A voice has just urged the psalmist to fly away like a bird to safety, and this verse gives the reason: the archers are already in position. So should visible danger set the believer's course? And is an attack you cannot see a reason to run?
The bow turns up often in Scripture, and it carries a settled meaning.
The common weapon for shooting arrows. It stands as a symbol of the hidden attacks of the wicked against the righteous. Ps. 11:2; Ps. 37:14-15. A "bow of steel" means great strength. Job 20:24. The wicked are like a "deceitful bow" — one that snaps when you lean on it. Ps. 78:57; Hosea 7:16.
The verse names its target by character, not by name. Two things come under fire at once: the people, and what their faith rests on.
Verses 2 and 3 set forth the character of evil with which the godly are faced. The opposition is not open; it works "in the dark". In secret, the enemy attacks the upright in heart and the foundations of their faith. Faced with these hidden dangers, what are the righteous to do?
Shooting from the shadows says something about the shooter. He has a reason for staying out of sight.
The psalmist is not frightened, and nothing moves him from his confidence of faith. Yet he is well aware of the enemy's threats — the bending of their bow, with arrows ready to fly. And the enemy is a coward. He does not want anyone to watch his crafty evil, so he shoots in the dark, clearly hoping his arrows will hit their target.
Darkness also means the threat cannot be located. The peril is certain; its direction is not.
In such a day as the psalms look forward to, the first danger looms large and serious enough: it is personal peril. The danger is there, and yet just where it will strike is uncertain. But the evil grows, and the moral question raised by this uprising under the government of God becomes the deepest one.
This verse looks like the strongest case for running away. But the timing of flight is God's to decide, not fear's.
There is a time when the Lord warns us to flee, when no action and no patience will help. That is not the case here. It is only so when God hands everything over to the wicked for a time. Fear and unbelief would urge flight, like a bird, away from the scene to a place of refuge and human safety. Faith looks higher: "In the LORD I take refuge" — older translations read, "In Jehovah put I my trust." Trust in the LORD, who is above all, from whom nothing is hidden, whom nothing escapes, whose faithfulness never changes, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, who orders everything in the end, whatever man's plans are, and who is our Father.
The psalm answers these hidden dangers by pointing away from the archers to where God dwells and rules.
The Lord is the resource of the righteous; His holy temple is on earth; His throne is in heaven. The temple speaks of His dwelling place. However ruined and defiled that place may be, faith still recognizes that God has a place on earth. His throne — speaking of His government — is still in heaven where no evil can enter. He still rules over all. The effort of man is to rid himself of the presence of God on the earth and to throw off His government from heaven.
God is not only watching. He is at work on the righteous themselves, and He has a purpose in it.
Jehovah tests the righteous. When His eyes, which see all things according to His own purity, test the children of men, He has an aim for the righteous: He proves and sifts them. This is a most important truth — God is active in dealing with the righteous. He works to carry out His own gracious purposes for them, to show His own character, and to judge, and lead them to judge, everything that does not match it.
- Bow — the drawn bow is Scripture's picture of hidden attacks on the righteous, not open warfare.
- Dark — the enemy shoots unseen because he will not be watched. The danger is real, but no one can trace where it comes from.
- Target — the aim is at the upright in heart and at the foundations their faith stands on.
- Flight — fear says escape to a mountain; faith answers that nothing escapes the One who orders everything.
- Throne — His government is in heaven, where no evil can enter, and from there He sifts the righteous for their good.
If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?
David hears one piece of advice — fly away like a bird to the mountains, out of reach of the danger closing in on the upright. Then comes the question every believer reaches when the supports of life give way: is anything left standing above the wreckage?
One writer reads it as the ordinary protections a good man relies on.
This is the meditation of a soul in great outward perplexity. The natural securities of the righteous, "the foundations" of the social order, kings and judges (see Psalm 82; Rom. 13), are giving way. But God is still in His due place — that is the soul's relief.
Another notices the plural: foundations, not foundation. He finds there the order God built into the world itself.
But Psalm 11 uses the plural — "foundations" — for this speaks of the basic truths connected with creation; for instance, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Evolution wants to attack and destroy this fact. Wicked boldness in adultery and homosexuality also attacks the marriage relationship God established in Genesis 2:24.
The danger is real. But the deeper question is moral: how can such a rising happen under God's government?
The danger is there, yet just where is uncertain. But the evil grows, and the moral question of this rising under the government of God becomes the deepest: "if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The path seems lost in this complete confusion.
Two answers are on offer: run, or look up. Commentators note that God does sometimes tell His people to flee — but not here.
There is a time when the Lord warns His people to flee, when no action and no patience is of any use. This is not the case here… Fear and unbelief would urge flight, like a bird, away from the scene to a place of refuge and human security. Faith looks higher… Trust in the Lord. He is above all. Nothing is unknown to Him, and nothing escapes Him. His faithfulness never changes. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him. After all, He orders everything, whatever man's plans are. He is our Father.
The righteous man has no defence in himself. His answer sits above, out of the wreckers' reach — and from there God tests people, including His own.
All the foundations are destroyed. The righteous, though righteous, have no defence in themselves. But there is a God who sits above, where the workings of the ungodly do not touch the foundations of His throne. From there He tries the children of men, and so He tries the righteous indeed.
One writer borrows this cry when the person of Christ is under attack. He applies it to the confession on which the church is built.
You have no ground to receive as a Christian anyone who tampers with the purity, glory, or integrity of the person of Christ. The Church is founded on Christ the Son of God. If this rock is shaken, all is gone. "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
The question is not left hanging. When the visible order breaks up, obedience does not stop. It gets simpler.
But if, as we have seen, the visible foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous still do? They can own God still, and give Him glory in His place. Let them rest on the faithful promise of the Lord. And let them boldly use the liberty He has given them of meeting in His name, whenever and wherever they wish — while humbly and sorrowfully admitting the general disorder.
Danger does not weaken this security. It puts it on display.
The Psalmist in triumph exclaims, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple!" Yes — our security looks greatest when we see it in the middle of dangers and alarms. The very depth of the waters around honoured the strength and sufficiency of the ark to Noah.
- Foundations. Some read these as the props of ordered society — kings and judges. Others read the plural as creation, marriage and family. Either way, the righteous did not build them and cannot repair them.
- Falling. The verse admits the collapse. The deepest trouble is not the danger itself. It is the moral question: how does evil rise so high under God's government?
- Fleeing. Fear says escape to a mountain. Faith refuses a human refuge, because God orders everything, down to a falling sparrow.
- Foundation. The righteous have no defence in themselves. But God's throne above has foundations no wicked hand reaches. The same holds for the confession of Christ as Son of God.
- Faithfulness. So what can the righteous do? Own God still, rest on His promise, meet in His name. Ruin all around is what makes His security visible.
Jehovah [is] in the temple of his holiness; Jehovah, -- his throne is in the heavens his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.
David has just been told to flee to the mountain, as if nothing on earth were safe. This verse is his answer. He does not run sideways; he looks up. Two things still stand when nothing on earth does: God's dwelling and God's throne. And from there God watches every person.
David rejects advice to find safety on earth. One writer sets the verse against that instinct and shows why the advice fails:
When we go through trials the world tells us: Seek your help in the mountain; use the resources which you have laid up for yourself in this world. Faith answers with David: No. Every foundation here on earth will be destroyed. But "The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD's throne is in heaven." That is where I take refuge.
The verse names two things. One is the place where God dwells. The other is the seat from which He rules:
The Lord is the resource of the righteous; His holy temple is on earth; His throne is in heaven. The temple speaks of His dwelling place, and, however ruined and defiled it may be, faith still recognizes that God has a place on earth. His throne — speaking of His government — is still in heaven where no evil can enter. He still rules over all. The effort of man is to rid himself of the presence of God on the earth and to throw off His government from heaven. Despite these efforts the House of God and the Throne of God — the foundations of all blessing for men — remains.
The second half of the verse turns from where God is to what God does. He is not a distant ruler but an attentive one — and His patience is not indifference:
He is in perfect control of all the circumstances of earth. "His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man." He knows every detail of what men do. He lets the evil of men go on until He has finished testing them. Remember: God is testing the ungodly by being patient with them for so long. But they fail the test, and the results will follow.
God's testing is more than inspection. The same searching look that exposes the wicked has a different aim for those who trust Him:
Everything on earth is overturned and in confusion. There is no security for the righteous here. But the LORD is in His holy temple; His throne is in heaven... He does not slumber or sleep; the righteous may leave his cause to Him... When He who sees all things according to His own purity tests the children of man, He has a purpose for the righteous: He proves and sifts them. This is a most important truth — God is at work with the righteous, to carry out His own gracious purposes for them... and at the same time He subdues their wills and wins their affections, by the sense of His faithfulness and love. The breaking of the will is a great means of opening the understanding.
If God sees everything, the obvious objection is that He does nothing about it. The answer is that His rule is real but not yet on display:
The present state of things is not in any way a revelation of the government of God. Faith knows that God has the upper hand, and that all things work together for good for those who love Him. But He is not governing directly right now. If He were, the present state of things would show His verdict on good and evil here below. If it were so, no evil could be allowed. The righteous would flourish, and all he does prosper. But it is not so.
Even strong faith feels this delay. One writer applies the verse to John the Baptist, left in prison while he waited for the Messiah to act:
He is surprised to find himself left in prison by the One he understood to be the Messiah, who was to right all wrongs... and the Lord seems to take no notice. It was the kind of doubt a great mind feels in times of discouragement — doubt about whether the course taken has been right after all. It was the kind of depression every upright mind feels when God appears to take no notice while everything goes badly wrong, "when His eyelids test the children of man."
- Refuge — Every foundation on earth will fall. The temple and the throne will not. So faith shelters there, not in the mountain.
- Rule — The temple speaks of God's dwelling, the throne of His government; men try to be rid of both, and both remain.
- Sight — Nothing escapes Him. His long patience with evil is itself a test, and the wicked are failing it.
- Sifting — The same gaze that exposes the wicked also proves and sifts the righteous. It breaks the will to open the understanding.
- Waiting — Today's conditions are not God's verdict on good and evil. If they were, He could allow no evil at all.