"To the choirmaster. Of David.
1 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark 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 see, his eyelids test the children of man.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face."
Psalm 11
This brief Psalm has a great deal to teach us, reflecting as it does in a variety of ways some fairly common experiences of the faithful in the spiritual life. David is in a situation of real peril, it may be in danger of his life. All the possible circumstances around him are adverse and threatening, and there does not seem any way out, on the human level. When we thus describe his situation, we have already found common ground with our own experience. Our lives may seldom be in actual peril in the way David's was, but there are numerous circumstances which at times hedge us in and press us beyond measure. This is a Psalm about such an experience. It divides into two, following the line of advice given to him by his 'counsellors' and the reply given from the standpoint of faith. David's circumstances may have been the eve of Absalom's rebellion, or the days of persecution under Saul. Either would fit the atmosphere of the Psalm. First of all, David expresses his trust in God. The word 'trust' here has the idea of fleeing to a stronghold, and this is the force of the question 'How say ye to my soul, Flee...', for he had already fled for refuge to God and found shelter in Him. What need was there to flee elsewhere? From 1b-3 we have the suggestions and advice of the timid and fearful counsellors, who urge him to flee as a bird to the mountain, justifying their suggestion by pointing to the treacherous intentions of remorseless enemies. Their appeal is reinforced by the consideration of the impotence of efforts to check the general anarchy (3), as if to say, 'Why wage a hopeless conflict any longer at the peril of life? All is lost: the wise thing to do is to run'.
It is striking to note how earthbound these counsellors were. There is no mention of God in these verses. Granted, the situation was serious, granted it was a time of crisis, and that things had never looked so black and threatening. But for them God seemed to be a forgotten factor, He was left out of their calculations, as a possible answer to the situation. That is the great fault in such counsel, in any circumstance. And it is this that calls the whole of it in question. There are some important implications in this, and we shall consider them in the next Note.