The Upright Shall Behold His Face

Psalm 11:1-3

In the LORD I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
"Flee like a bird to your mountain,
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;
if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?"

...............

When troubles come into our lives, we are often faced with two options for how to respond: trust or despair. These options don't appear obvious to us because we choose between them so quickly, almost immediately upon encountering some obstacle or change in plans throughout our day. From small inconveniences to life-altering catastrophes, we always have a choice as to how we will think about our circumstances and how we will think about the future in light of those circumstances.

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The Psalmist chooses trust, but that choice is not always natural, and definitely not always easy. He comes to his trial and desires to take refuge in God, because he knows that God is trustworthy and has always been faithful. But, almost immediately he is confronted by an alternative response to trials: FLEE! Whether suggested to him by an outside agent, or emerging completely from inner doubts, this response is the antithesis of trust in God. Flee like a bird! The enemy surrounds you! The focus is entirely upon the circumstance itself, and NOT on the God who sits enthroned over the whole earth. He reigns over every circumstance; nothing surprises Him. This is the truth described in the rest of the psalm, where the writer consciously chooses to remember that God is in control, that God has promised to bring justice to the wicked, and that He has promised good to the righteous: "the upright will behold his face."

By way of summary, consider the concluding statements that are given for each of the two responses to trials. The first response concludes: What can the righteous do? After meditating on the trial itself, rather than looking beyond it, the anxious man can only conclude with a question. This is a precarious place to be for the person of faith. Living day by day within the "question mark" is not the way of trust in God. Notice also, that the anxious man is more concerned with what HE must do, how is HE himself going to solve his own problem. It is only fitting that he should end in despair, after he has come to the end of his own strength and found it wanting.

The man of faith concludes with a confident trust in the stated promises of God: The upright shall behold his face. The focus is off of himself and onto the object of his faith and trust. The hope is not temporal comfort but the comfort that comes from the presence of Almighty God.

We will be tempted everyday to focus on the trial at hand. But, like the psalmist, we must choose to keep our eyes on the God who sits enthroned above it all. He sees the injustice. He knows it's pain more than we ever will. Let us take refuge in Him, by setting our eyes upon who He is and what He has promised.