Fleeless

Psalm 11:1-7 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. Of David.

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.

There are those followers of Christ who are always seeing reason to panic. The last days prognosticators who see signs of the return of Christ preceded of course by unprecedented hardship and persecution and woes upon the faithful.

There are those who want the culture to return to the halcyon days of post war North America when the churches were full of people, the “great hymns of the faith” (mostly revivalist hymns from the late 19th century) were sung and there were laws against immorality and Sunday shopping. Now that all those things are lost to history they bemoan the state of the society and complain about how good and moral (the churches were full) it used to be when they were young. There is a tinge of panic in their voices. “I don’t know what’s gone wrong with the world” “What in the world is happening”. “The Lord must be coming soon, the signs are everywhere.”

Then there are those who advocate buying up gold for the coming economic crash that is guaranteed to come soon. And then there are those who just worry. “What if the Muslims take over and Christianity becomes illegal? What if the government forces the church to perform marriages of homosexuals? What if being a Christian means losing my job?”

David addressed this kind of thinking over 3000 years ago. People look around and see the evil that prevails and they panic. David will have none of it. “Why” he asks “do people say ‘flee to the mountains?’” It never occurs to David that he should put his tail between his legs and hide simply because the days are evil or the truth is opposed or evil seems to be triumphing.

No matter what is happening “The Lord is in His holy temple, … the Lord tests the righteous…, the righteous shall behold his face and in the Lord he takes his refuge.” In other words. Since I trust the One who is really in charge, why should I fear His enemies? This is the attitude that all the faithful should have. We are not lovers of pain or suffering, but we will not fear those who can only destroy the body. Our hope is in the One who can destroy both body and soul and cast them into hell. He is for us and we will not fear – though the mountains be cast into the sea.

How we need this message today. How we need this kind of faith and fearlessness. There are far far too many Christians who lay claim to the sovereignty of God and at the same time panic when things are bleak and death is imminent or the house is being reclaimed or the child is not going to recover. None of these things are a surprise to God and He is using them for His glory and our good. We will not flee to the mountains. God is the refuge for our souls. He rules over everything and He is for us. That is the greatest remedy for fear there can be. Oh that more believers would receive it and walk upright because of the God they serve. Today, do not let fear rule your day. Overcome evil with good. Make the small corner of the world you live in a better place. If you are God’s child you have nothing to fear.