Psalm 11 begins with a striking contrast. David says, “In the Lord I take refuge” (v.1), yet those around him tell him to flee: “Flee like a bird to your mountain.” The wicked are preparing their arrows, the upright are under threat, and the foundations of society appear to be collapsing. Their conclusion is understandable: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v.3). From a human perspective, everything looks unstable. The natural response is to run, to find somewhere else to hide, or to look for another source of security.
But David’s confidence is not based on pretending that the crisis is not real. He knows the danger is real. He knows the foundations are being shaken. Yet he begins with these words: “In the Lord I take refuge.” That changes everything. Psalm 11 calls us to look beyond what is happening around us and to see the situation from God’s perspective. Verses 1–3 give us the negative, human perspective; verses 4–7 give us the positive, God-centred perspective. The question is not whether trouble exists, but where we will take refuge when trouble comes.
David’s Lord is also the Lord who tells us today, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). Taking refuge in the Lord does not mean that God will always remove our troubles immediately. Sometimes He allows us to remain in difficult circumstances. Sometimes He leads us through trials rather than around them. But our greatest need for refuge is not ultimately protection from earthly troubles. Our greatest need is refuge from the judgment our sins deserve.
The Bible tells us plainly, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro 3:23). Without refuge, we stand guilty before a holy and righteous God. “The wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). But the gospel gives us astonishing good news: sinners can be “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Ro 3:24). The same verse that tells us about the wages of sin also tells us about “the gift of God” — eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Without refuge, there is condemnation; in Christ, there is forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life.
Psalm 11 also asks us to consider whether we are looking for another refuge. The psalmist is told to flee to the mountain, but David has already declared, “In the Lord I take refuge.” What about us? When life becomes difficult, where do we instinctively run? What other refuge or comfort are we seeking? We may run to our own abilities, our achievements, our money, our relationships, our reputation, our plans, or simply our desire to control everything. These things may provide temporary comfort, but none of them can bear the weight of our ultimate security. Only the Lord can.
The question in verse 3 is especially important: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The word “foundations” can point both to the foundations God has established — His Word, His promises, His providence and His truth — and to the foundations of social and moral stability. There are times when it genuinely feels as though these foundations are being shaken. Values change, truth is questioned, evil may appear to prosper, and what once seemed stable can suddenly become uncertain. So what can the righteous do?
David’s answer is not first to look at the destruction around him. He looks up: “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them” (v.4). The foundations may appear to be shaking on earth, but God’s throne has not moved. God is still in His holy temple. He is still sovereign. He still sees. He still knows. He is not absent from the world when things go wrong.
This is why we must distinguish between our circumstances and our foundation. Our circumstances can change; God does not. Human institutions can fail; God’s promises cannot. Our feelings can rise and fall; God’s Word stands forever. As Isaiah 40:8 declares, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
God’s solid foundation stands firm. As 2 Timothy 2:19 says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” And ultimately, that foundation is Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Co 3:11). Jesus is not merely someone who helps us when our foundation is shaken. He is the foundation upon which our lives must be built.
Jesus Himself used this picture when He said that everyone who hears His words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. When the rain came, the streams rose, and the winds beat against the house, “yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Mt 7:24–25). Notice that Jesus did not promise that the rain would never come. The storm still came. The difference was the foundation.
This also means that faith is not the same thing as refusing to take action. Is faith always good? Does fleeing automatically mean unbelief? No. There may be times when the wise thing to do is to leave a dangerous situation or seek safety. David’s confidence was not in staying in danger for the sake of appearing courageous. His confidence was in God. True confidence is not denying the reality of the crisis; it is trusting that God is more real still. We can acknowledge the storm while still resting on the Rock.
The foundation of God’s Word also teaches us the foundational doctrine of justification — that sinners are declared righteous before God by grace through faith in Christ. Martin Luther famously described justification as the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. This is not a minor theological detail. It is the heart of our refuge. If our standing before God depended upon our own goodness, our refuge would never be secure. But our righteousness rests upon Christ and His finished work.
Psalm 11 then reminds us that God examines everyone, both the righteous and the wicked. “He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion” (vv.4–5). The word “examine” carries the idea of testing. God sees what is happening, and nothing is hidden from Him.
God tests the righteous. James tells us that “the testing of your faith produces perseverance,” and that perseverance must finish its work so that we may become “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (Jas 1:3–4). Peter similarly tells believers, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pe 4:12). Trials are not evidence that God has abandoned His people. God can use them to strengthen our faith, expose our dependence upon Him, and mature us.
At the same time, God’s testing exposes the sins of the wicked and leaves them without excuse before His judgment. Psalm 11 does not soften this reality. “On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot” (v.6). God is righteous, and He loves justice. Evil will not ultimately escape judgment.
This brings us to a difficult truth in Psalm 11: God both loves and hates. Verse 5 says that God hates the wicked who love violence, while verse 7 says, “the Lord is righteous, he loves justice.” These are not competing attributes within God. His love and His hatred are distinct expressions of the same holy character. Because God is holy, He is kind, generous, merciful and loving. And because He is holy, He hates everything that opposes His holiness.
Genuine love naturally hates what harms the beloved. A good parent does not love a child by being indifferent to what destroys that child. In the same way, God’s hatred of sin is not contrary to His goodness. It is part of His holiness. He cannot simply overlook evil and call it good.
And this is where the cross becomes so important. At the cross, God’s love and His hatred of sin meet in Christ. God loves sinners, and therefore He sent Christ to die for us. Yet God hates sin and could not simply leave sin unpunished. Someone had to bear the penalty. Christ willingly took that penalty upon Himself for His people. The cross shows us both the seriousness of our sin and the greatness of God’s love.
Those who reject Christ as their refuge will ultimately have to bear the condemnation for their own sins. But God does not delight in the destruction of sinners. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God says, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? … Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” And again, “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Eze 18:23, 32).
The Lord provides a refuge for sinners and calls them to come to Him. Even the vilest sinner is invited to seek refuge in Christ Jesus. The gospel is not an invitation reserved for those who have cleaned themselves up. It is an invitation to guilty sinners who need mercy. God calls sinners to repent and live.
This is why Psalm 11 ends not merely with judgment but with hope: “For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face” (v.7). How can sinful people ever hope to stand upright before a righteous God? How can we ever hope to see His face? The answer is not that we become good enough. The answer is Christ.
John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). Notice that God is not only faithful to forgive; He is also just. His mercy does not come at the expense of His righteousness. God does not simply ignore our sin. The demands of His justice were fully met at the cross, where Christ was punished for the sins of His people.
Therefore, for those who take refuge in Christ, God’s justice has already been satisfied. God would not punish the same sins twice — once in Christ and then again in those who are united to Christ. Our refuge is secure because our salvation does not rest upon our ability to make ourselves righteous. It rests upon the righteousness and finished work of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 11 therefore brings us back to the question with which we began: When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? We take refuge in the Lord. We do not pretend that the crisis is unreal. We do not deny the storm. We do not necessarily refuse every practical means of escape. But neither do we allow fear to convince us that God has lost control.
The Lord is still in His holy temple. He is still on His heavenly throne. He sees. He examines. He judges. He loves justice. He hates wickedness. And yet, in His mercy, He provides a refuge for sinners in Jesus Christ. When everything around us seems unstable, Christ remains our firm foundation. When we are weary and burdened, He invites us to come to Him. When we are guilty, He offers forgiveness. When we are tested, He strengthens our faith. And when the world around us shakes, we can say with David, “In the Lord I take refuge.”
There is no refuge more secure than God Himself. God examines everyone, and God will judge the wicked. Yet the same righteous God provides refuge for sinners through Christ. So when the foundations shake, when trouble comes, when our own hearts are afraid, and when we do not know what to do, the answer remains the same: Take refuge in the Lord.
