Journal

Psalm 11 - Our confident hope

Posted on May 26th, 2008, in the afternoon

If I'd kept up writing on a Psalm a week since I began in October 2005 I'd nearly be finished! (Here's the series on Worshipping with the Psalms.) As it is I stalled after Psalm 10, exhausted by meditating on cries for vengeance week after week. Who knows whether I'll get any further than this, but here are my thoughts on Psalm 11...

This is a Psalm about proper confidence in God regardless of oppostion. Against those doubting whether righteousness will really triumph over evil, David asserts:

In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain."

Psalm 11.1, NIV

The doubters continue for two verses, focussing on the apparent strength of the wicked and concluding with world-weary resignation:

"When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Psalm 11.3, NIV

David's answer begins and ends with his eyes fixed on God:

The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.

Psalm 11.4, NIV

He speaks boldly of the God who will ultimately vindicate the righteous and destroy evil, concluding with this summary of his hope:

For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.

Psalm 11.7, NIV

While the language of "fiery coals" and "burning sulphur" earlier in this Psalm may jar with the usual themes of our corporate worship on Sundays (on the whole we tend to focus on more uplifting sentiments) the worship of this psalm is highly relevent to a world in which evil so often seems to have the upper hand.

Just as in David's time, the popular contemporary response to those who have hope in God tends to be a cynical "Flee like a bird to your mountain," "what can the righteous do?" But we are called to hope, and not a wishful hope, a confident hope in the God who loves justice.

Part of our identity as the Church is our confidence that God will ultimately establish justice and make all things new. We keep with the tradition of the Psalms and, most importantly, express the heart of God towards the world when this confident hope is part of our worship.