Trust & Refuge (Psalm 11)

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?"

The Lord is in his holy temple;

the Lord is on his heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of men;

his eyes examine them.

The Lord examines the righteous,

but the wicked and those who love violence

his soul hates.

On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur;

a scorching wind will be their lot.

For the Lord is righteous,

he loves justice;

upright men will see his face.

When do you approach God?  

Do you approach him when it is comfortable?  

I can only speak for myself when I say I approach Him the LEAST when I am comfortable.  I have the least NEED for Him.  So, that gets me thinking: When and why do I approach Him?  I might argue for three reasons:

   (1) out of LOVE for Him; I would seek Him because of my stirring desires to be near and close like that of your very best friend that you cannot resist, like magnetic fields whose attraction cannot be turned off,

   (2) out of OBLIGATION for Him - like in the assembly of others only because it would be uncomfortable not to seek Him in the presence of others, and

   (3) out of absolute LOSS; there is no one else to turn to, no refuge, no safety...nothing on earth where you may rest your head, your conscience, your vulnerabilities to.

As I read Psalm 11, I am comforted in David's plea to trust in God for refuge.  He has no other place to go.  "In the Lord I take refuge...for [He] is on his heavenly throne and observes the sons of men."  He knows the hearts of men, those who love violence...and hates it.  He will punish those who love wickedness and use fire and scorching wind.  Why such vitriol?  Because He is Love.  He hates wickedness...it is not His nature.  But why the fire?  Scripture is constantly referring to God's refiner's fire, to remove impurities and purify His creation.  

Does He reserves this for the wicked only?  No.  What is so comforting about God's justice, love, mercy (and many more immeasurable qualities) is His character - when understood - is universal and can be expected.  "For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open." (Luke 8:17)  Just because you are saved or not saved does not mean He will prefer to conceal the redeemed person's sin over the other.  That would be unjust and not of His character.  He would certainly be an unloving God...and we know He is not unloving but indeed the definition of Love...the creator of Love. 

Even more so, His refiner's fire is not only to purify us for His sake, but for ours.  Peter suffered "grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:7)  While the context of this passage refers to the Peter's suffering under great persecution, I trust that His refining fire is also reserved for our personal failings and impurities that need to be removed, burned out, of us.

I'm not here to sugar coat anything:  The fire is painful.  The fire is undesirable and unpleasant...but, at times, there is comfort in knowing that Truth - He himself - is controlling the refiner's fire, not the wicked who would wish to torment us for their own gain and pleasure.

Because of this, I find comfort in trusting in God when He is refining me.  I know He loves me because He is Love.

And even if that's hard to believe, rest in this thought:  When I first read Psalm 11, the image that immediately came to mind was of a conversation that could have happened between God the Father and Jesus Christ (along with the Holy Spirit).  They are completely united, as One, and have glorious fellowship beyond our greatest imagination.  And so, before the creation of the world, the Father speaks to His Son and says, "In this plan, I will have you suffer the greatest human pain imaginable, suffering beyond belief, scars, emotional loss, and more...and then, I will even turn my gaze away from you and you will not see me."  Silence ensues for moments.  And then the Father says, "Do you trust me?"

While I know that God through Jesus Christ loves me beyond human love's definition, Christ did not sacrifice himself just because of me.  In fact, I would argue, he didn't do it for me at all.  He gave us His sacrifice because He loves His Father first and will Trust... in... Him.

If Christ can trust the Father to the point of unbearable loneliness and pain, how can I not trust Him with any of my earthly matters?  In him will I trust and take refuge.