"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
Here is another thought: It does not say who these counsellors were, and it has been suggested that the Psalm may well represent 'a good man's dialogue with himself', and that the advice may well be the voice of his own fears, the whispers of sense and sloth that bid us cut our losses and run. This opens up for us a very significant line of interpretation, for in circumstances such as these, part of us, as we put it, wants to 'get away from it all' (cf Psalm 55, 'O that I had wings like a dove: then would I fly away and be at rest'). And at such times, there is a dialogue that goes on in our hearts, sometimes a furious argument, and a battle for supremacy. One supreme factor in the life of victory for the believer lies just here, in his ability to deal with these 'voices' from the under- world of his heart, and speak to them instead of allowing them to dictate to him.
Much of the trouble in our lives arises when we allow our self to talk to us instead of our talking to our self. In the initial period of the Psalm, when all these thoughts were coming to David's mind and heart, his self was talking to him, reminding him of, and pointing out to him all the adverse circumstances, telling him to run away. Then, he be- gins to allow the 'other man' in him, the spiritual, to respond and say, 'Now, just listen to me for a moment'. And from that point, the victory was assured. Once this principle is grasped, it will be seen to be of very wide application, for it will answer so many problems. And it is equally true both of the 'other man' within us, the voice of prudence and self-preservation, and of the voice of the devil. And the treatment is the same in both cases. You assert yourself against the other, and tell them where to get off! And David did! 'Look at the opened heaven', he said, 'You say the eyes of the wicked are upon me, but other eyes are also upon me, and upon them too. You say that their bow is drawn, ready to shoot at me; but another bow is also bent and at the ready, which shall shoot off before theirs'. What is happening is that David is reminding himself again of the facts of his faith, as in the previous Psalm, and they are given paramount place in his thinking. And the defeatest counsel is set at naught.