Face of God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FACE OF GOD

Ps 11

In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: "Flee like a bird to your mountain. 2 For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" 4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. 5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. 6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. 7 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.

NIV

If we are taking our refuge in the Lord, or as the Hebrew puts it, put our trust in the Lord, then why would we have to listen to someone telling us to flee? So they take up arms against us, they bend their bows and set their arrows against strings to shoot at us from the shadows, to shoot at our heart. That sure sounds a lot like Satan with his flaming arrows. But our trust is in the Lord for he has given us the shield of faith to extinguish all those arrows aimed at our heart. We also have that breastplate of righteousness protecting our heart, which is Jesus, for he is our righteousness. The Psalmist asks what we can do if the foundations are being destroyed. What are the foundations? Is it the foundations of the earth? The Hebrew word gives us a little insight as it is used figuratively as the basis of political or moral support. This might imply as to what the believer will do when all that we hold dear is ripped from the fabric of our society. What will we do when our religious freedom has been taken away? We are already seeing an all-out attack on Christianity from many different fronts, even our government. One past president even said this is no longer a Christian nation. Many special interest groups whose lifestyles are spoken against by the Word of God fight to have any reference of God removed from the public square. One ex-governor said Christianity is just a crutch for weak-minded people. But we will stand, we will take our stand, we will defend the name of our Lord. He is in his holy temple, he is on his heavenly throne. God sees all that is going on regarding the hatred people have toward him and what his word stands for. The Lord might well examine the righteous, again the Hebrew word there could even imply tests the righteous. This is not a test to fail us or a trial to see if we will fail, but as in a test to see how well we do, as a jeweler would test gold to see how pure it is. He does this because he loves us. He wants us to continue to trust in him even if the fabric of our society is dead set against him. He wants us to maintain our faith, our belief in his word even when it is not the popular thinking of our culture. We will take our stand, hold our ground, not given to retreat. We will not allow the enemy to advance any further. God loves us, but look what it says about those wicked and who live violence. His soul hates them, or he hates their soul as the Hebrew could imply. He hates their soul makes it sound like he hates what they do, how they think, their way of life. He still loves all his creation, even the wicked, as we once lived among them, and God loved us so much he sent his Son to die on that cross for us. We heard his voice, his call and repented. We stepped out from among the wicked and became one of the righteous. So he still loves them, but hates their sin. If they remain steadfast to their cause of wicked ways, if their soul is set on hatred for God, then they shall reap the rewards of their choice. God will rain down fire on them, just as he did on Sodom because of their wickedness. The lake of burning sulfur with hotter wind will be their lot. The Lord is righteous and those who are upright, that is those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior will see the face of God and live. The only uprightness we have is our faith in Jesus. He is our righteousness, he is our uprightness. Because of Jesus we will see the face of God.