Do you ever find yourself just longing for the day when all this Covid-19 business is behinds us?  Do you ever been in a situation so overwhelming you just wanted to escape? 

Psalm 11 tells of a time the poet found himself in such danger that his friends urged him to escape like a bird flies to the safety of the bushes and a deer bounds for the deep woods when it smells the archer.

The poet’s friends can see danger closing in on him. They urge him to get away while he can, to disappear, because his opponents have the upper hand, and things are deteriorating fast. The way they see it, society is coming unraveled and it’s every man and woman for themselves; good people don’t stand a chance.       

But our poet is not convinced. Instead of being overwhelmed by the danger around him, he looks to God.  Listen to the song and the singer’s decision to resist the escape option.

In the Lord I take refuge.

How then can you say to me:
“Flee like a bird to your mountain.
For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Psalm 11:1-3

So the poet chooses to take refuge in God.  Why? – and what does that mean?  

He believes that running to God is a lot smarter than trying to run away.  Evil is unavoidable, but God is a protective Presence even in the midst of danger.

Even though his world is falling apart and moral standards are eroding around him, he does not despair. He is confident that the greater and more significant reality is that God is alive and well in his holy temple, on his throne governing the Universe with wisdom, vigilance and love, and with a perfect sense of timing.

Second, he knows that he can no more escape his enemies than his enemies can escape God’s justice. 

God actively monitors the actions of every one of us his creatures. Even if moral standards are crumbling around us, God will ultimately bring justice to the Earth and liberate it from those who are destroying it, because God is as passionate about justice – just as he is about Beauty and Truth, passionate for his beloved creation and us who bear his image.  That’s why the poet seeks his refuge in God. 

In some ways we can all find ourselves in this psalm.  We are all refugees from what unsettles us, or threatens to uproot us from our securities, whether it is fragile health, or precarious work, our failing finances, a difficult spouse or parent or our status at work.  Normally we try to manage these stresses by our wits and best efforts, but when life becomes extreme, we long for any promise of safe harbor, a secure place, a place we can call home.

Seeking refuge in God is not just trusting God for good outcomes in stressful times. It is exponentially better than that. God as a refuge is a metaphor for the most powerful yearning of the human heart, for a relationship that resonates with our deepest being, discovering that we are not alone, but that in fact we have been welcomed home.

Our poet believes that finding his refuge in God will lead to seeing God’s face — “the upright will see his face” (Psalm 11:7), which means a growing familiarity or intimacy with God.  That is what motivates him to seek God’s face rather than face his circumstances on his own.

Moses was told that seeing God face-to-face was beyond human capability, but Psalm 11 imagines it just the same.  And it proved to be a perfect insight.  When Jesus came, he made this line of Psalm 11 a reality for us. He gave us a glimpse of the very essence of God. In Jesus we see the face of God and he invites us to trust him as our ultimate refuge, our ultimate home of belonging.

This is the refuge where we can bring our fears and our failures, our deficiencies and guilt and where Jesus forgives us and extends his virtue over us, where fellowship with God as our Father opens up and deepens and we taste a joy beyond words.

That’s a thousand times sweeter than any escape. 

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