Psalm 11

1 In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

4 The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

5 The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. (KJV)

In the book Spurgeon’s Daily Treasures in The Psalms update and edited by Roger Campbell he makes an interesting comment about verse one.  He writes, “When Satan cannot overthrow us by pride, he will seek to ruin us by distrust.”  This usually happens when some of the darkest moments in our life come along and when we try to trust in the Lord, but it seems that everything around is falling apart and all we can see are the victories that the wicked has against us. This is when Satan comes around us and says “It time to give in since God no longer cares about you anymore.  Look even the people closer to you are leaving and the very truths that you hold so dear are being destroy”.   Satan’s message to us in times of trouble and we see everyone turning against us “is flee as a bird to your mountain and hide there because God is not going to help you out of this one?”.

How then should we reply to the attaches of Satan in times of crisis?   Christ’s answer to him in Matthew 4: 10 “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve.”  This answer of Christ is the first of the ten commandments.  This commandment is not only the cornerstone of our faith, but it serves as the way we live. Those that worship and serve the Lord are the godly.  Those that reject God and decides to serve self instead of God are the ungodly. 

In I Kings 19:1-18 we have the passage on how Jezebel sent an messager unto Elijah that threaten to take his life like he had taken the life of the prophets of Baal.  Even after the great victory of faith that Elijah had on Mount Carmel he now feared for his live to the point that he told the Lord “It is enough; now, O Lord take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”  Even after great victories from the Lord the wickedness of the devil and his servants can still overcomes us.  At times like these we feel defeated and useless, no better than any other Christian, and that the Lord no longer has a purpose for us.  We feel like that evil now has taken the upper hand in everything around us.  In moments like these God sometimes sends us a message and gives us a new direction for our journey on this earth.  Like Elijah we might look for the guidance of the Lord in great big events, instead of the still small voice.  As we see from the example given to us in I Kings nineteen that God will provide for us even when we try to flee from the dangers that surrounds us. 

Another interesting reminder that God gave Elijah in this discord was that God had left to Himself seven thousand in all of Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal.   I believe that we are given this fact of the seven thousand in these verses to remind us how we might believe we are the only one that is standing up for God, but in reality we are just one of the seven thousand that God has reserved for himself for the work of the ministry.   From Elijah’s own words he must have been surprised with the knowledge of the seven thousand.  In his own eyes Elijah believe that he was the only one that was left that stood for the Lord. 

Elijah’s ministry must have taken a real strain on his life.  We see this in the Lord’s message as he delivered three tasks for Elijah to perform next: anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, and to anoint Elisha to be prophet in your place.  Yet of these three tasks Elijah only completed one, the anointing of Elisha to take his place.  The other two task were completed by Elisha.  The Lord will always provide someone to carry on His work. 

So, when you hear Satan’s message to you in times of trouble and it seems that everyone is turning against you and the only escape is to flee as a bird to your mountain and hide, just remember that God has not forgotten you during these times.  We might not be aware of God’s purpose during these periods of tribulations, but we know that God is in completed control.  This is real faith.