A Stubborn And Tested Faith (Psalm 11)
This is a weird day, to say the least. Well, we are seeing the results of decades of secularization in America. We just didn’t expect so many birds to come to roost at the same time. But here we are, and these God-hating vultures keep coming and keep letting us know that they seriously can’t wait for us to die so much that they wish to help the process along. What they do not understand is that the only reason they are allowed to be so belligerent and gain so much ground is because God has allowed them to do so and that one day He will squash their rebellion with great fury to the applause of the whole world.
While the vultures squawk what are we to do?
We are to possess a stubborn faith that passes God’s test.
There is debate concerning the context of this psalm. It is quite unclear as to when this happened, but we understand at least that David had counselors who advised that he flee. And that there was a perceived threat to the very foundations of the Kingdom.
I am 38 years old and understand that the country I live in now is vastly different from the country I grew up in. Everywhere I look I can see shaking foundations. And the advice of many in our day is to be quiet and stay in the background. The pressure is for the Church to stand to the side while the godless in our society turn the whole thing upside down. It seems like most of our society has embraced an organization that promotes the destruction of the modern family and perverse sexual practices in Black Lives Matter. Black lives do matter and racism should be fought wherever it is found, but this Satanic organization should be seen for what it is. Societal pressure to corrupt the family and embrace lifestyles abhorrent to God have to be stood against. The Christian message is now met with more hostility than I can ever remember. And things just seem to be going crazy. But in this time of testing we are to possess a stubborn faith that passes God’s test.
Possess a Stubborn Faith (Vv. 1-3)
Whatever the situation is here, there are a few suggestions, David is stubbornly saying “NO!” to his advisers. People are telling him to flee. David is standing firm in the Lord and saying that he will take refuge in the Lord.
This is a stubborn faith in God, is it not? In the face of those who have been placed where they are because of their intellectual prowess, David firmly says “NO! I will trust the Lord.”
All signs point to David being in danger and he says, “NO! I will not flee, my refuge is in the Lord.” The foundations of our government may crumble, but I will not flee. I will trust the Lord.
This is an interesting and thought-provoking response to his advisers. Seemingly everything and everyone around us is trying to run the Church over in America. Society has cast Christians as folks who should remain silent in the corner while the foundations of our society are torn apart and we say, “NO!”. We are told not to speak of our faith in Christ and His salvation for the world and we say, “NO!”.
It was a stubborn faith in God that led Daniel to pray where everyone could see it and be sent to the Lion’s Den.
It was stubborn faith that led Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego to the fiery furnace.
It was stubborn faith that moved the Apostles to keep preaching though the authorities told them to shut their mouths.
We will not flee. We will not cave to society’s pressures. We will have a stubborn faith in God because we rest secure in Christ. In times of trial we will have a stubborn faith in God who sits on His throne.
The Testing of the Sovereign Lord (Vv. 4-5)
Times may be tough, but it doesn’t mean that God is absent from His throne. He is still there, and He is still in control. And God is doing something in this time of trial.
A universal sign of deep concentration or trying hard to see something is squinting. The picture here is an interesting one. David pictures God as sitting on His throne in complete control, peering deeply into the lives of both the righteous and the wicked. The righteous are being tested while the wicked have only God’s hatred hanging over their heads.
The point here is that God allowing these things to occur is not a moment of laxity. It’s not as if God isn’t in control. It is a time of testing and judgment. As Derek Kidner put it in his commentary on the Psalms,
“The repetition of test…tests in 4b, 5a reveals that the initiative is the Lord’s even before the decisive moment of verse 6. His stillness is not inertia but concentration, and His patience gives opportunity to both righteous and wicked to show what they are made of.”—Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, An Introduction and Commentary on Books I and II of The Psalms, 1973, pp. 73-74.
The hardships that would destroy the foundations of society are not an accident. They are quite purposeful. And, they are inflicted upon both the sinner and God’s people. What gives?
Augustine of Hippo supplies a pretty good perspective on this. He lived through the end of the Fall of the Roman Empire and gave a defense for the Christian faith that is found in his book City of God. It was finished around the year 413. In one section he attempted to answer this question. He actually stated that the same suffering has different effect on the Christian and Non-Christian.
“Thus, in this universal catastrophe, the sufferings of Christians have tended toward their moral improvement because they viewed them with the eyes of faith.”—Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 1984, p. 14
God had allowed the Roman Empire, which at least outwardly had become Christian. Most of you know of the deep immorality that existed in the Roman Empire but the accusations flew, nonetheless. And the difference in the people’s response, for Augustine, was due to the fact that God used the same event to do different things with His people than those who are not His people.
“So this seems to me a major reason why the good are chastised along with the evil, when God decides to punish moral corruption with temporal calamities. Good and bad are chastised together, not because both alike live evil lives, but because both alike, though not in the same degree, love this temporal life. But the good ought to have despised it, so that the others might be reformed and corrected and might aim at life eternal; or, if they refused to be partners in this enterprise, so that they might be born with, and loved as Christians should love their enemies, since in this life it is always uncertain whether or not they are likely to experience a change of heart.”—Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 1984, p. 16
It reminds me a lot of the refiner’s fire. There is a vastly different purpose in a fire for the gold than there is for the dross. The fire destroys the dross and purifies the gold. In much the same way the Christian comes out of the fire better than before while the unbeliever is destroyed by judgment. And, as Augustine went on to explain, even if the troubles killed the Christians it was to their betterment.
“’But’, they say, ‘many Christians have been destroyed by prolonged starvation.’ Well, the loyal and faithful turned this also to their own advantage by enduring it in fidelity to God. For when starvation killed any, it snatched them away from the evils of this life, as disease rescues men from the sufferings of the body, and if it spared their lives, it taught them to live more frugally and to fast more extensively.”—Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 1984, p. 20
God is in control. Both the actions of the righteous and the wicked are of great concern to God. And the troubles that He allows to happen are intended for the betterment of His people and the punishment of the wicked. There will come a day when Christ will be more active in the world. He will on that day judge the world in righteousness.
Christian, our time of trial may be here or may be fast approaching. The reproach of people is already upon us and the question is asked now, will we pass the test? Will we stand firm in the trial? Will we live faithfully in this harsh and cruel world?
It is not wrong to withstand these trials and look forward to the day when God will judge the world in righteousness for on that day the Christian cause will be vindicated and the wicked will receive their just rewards. But until then we remain faithful amid the horrors that exist all around us. For God hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Some of the major cities in America have been undergoing extreme levels of crime and violence for close to two months now. Portions of these cities are burning to the ground. And though the righteous seem to be getting pummeled right now, God is on the side of the righteous and this will be evident when God’s judgment comes.
The Judgment of God (Vv. 6-7)
We tend to think of God’s judgment as being a horror that we shy away from thinking about, but that does not seem to be the tenor of Scripture on the matter. The Psalmist repeatedly finds comfort in there being a day in which God will judge the world. And lest we think this strange the Book of Revelation holds forth this same hope for believers.
Notice that David doesn’t look at this time begrudgingly. “Let Him rain coals on the wicked…” is asking for that time to come and looking forward to that day. I don’t think we should be as shy in considering the judgement of God as we seem to be.
Right now we live in a time period where our society calls Christians wicked. According to the Guttmacher Institute over 860,000 abortions were performed in 2017 and this is touted as a moral victory for much of America. Much of this was done with taxpayer dollars. Christians are seen as being on the wrong side of this argument. Perverse sexual practices are celebrated in the streets and celebrated in marriages all over the country. And Christians are seen as being on the wrong side of this argument. The Supreme Court has decided that State Governments can limit a Church’s right to gather while allowing casinos to open. There is coming a day when God will judge the world in righteousness and reveal whose side He is on. He will reveal what is actually good and what is actually evil.
And when I look around the globe and see our brothers and sisters in Christ facing intense persecution I am forced to look forward to the day when God will vindicate His cause. Christians being beheaded for the cause of Christ. Christians’ homes are being burned down. There is coming a day when they will be vindicated.
Ultimately David’s assurance rested in God who is just and righteous. The wicked who assault him and cause such awful turmoil will find judgment like Sodom and Gomorrah found judgment. That will be their portion. But it is not so for believers. They will get to behold God’s face. That will be the portion of the righteous. And so, the believer rests assured that God is going to one day set all things right. His justice will fall on those who treated His people unjustly and His favor will rest on those who trusted in Christ.
I recently read through the Book of Revelation with a commentary in hand and read the Book of Psalms at the same time. I like to go through a book of the Bible slowly and read through the rest of the Scriptures at a normal pace. Things just happened to line up this way. It was shocking to me to see this idea of God vindicating His people as being a cause for rejoicing repeatedly in both books. God’s people suffer and He brings them into His loving presence while He judges those who persecuted His people.
But what makes me different from the guy who hates Christians down the street? It’s the love of God. God made me His child through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the reason that I won’t have these coals heaped upon my own head. So, I live with this tension. I want to speak the truth of Christ boldly in hopes that God will use that to save them from the wrath to come. At the same time I look forward to the day when God and His ways will be vindicated and all the world will be held accountable for the wickedness that we see taking place around us. On that day we will see God’s face.
We have to look beyond the present circumstances to the cosmic reality that God is on our side and that He is in control. So we trust the Lord who redeemed us. Let us not be discouraged by the heinous actions of this world. Let us look beyond things happening now to God who has never left His throne who loves us with an everlasting love.
R. Dwain Minor