Psalm 11 – I Will Not Run and Hide!: What to Do When Evil Triumphs

You know, sometimes a rhetorical question can really say a lot more than big, bold statements or lots of information. You know, and a question that just kind of hangs in the air and you say to yourself, Wow, either I’ve never thought about that or man, that’s a big question I don’t have a good answer to.

One of the classic rhetorical questions that is raised in all of the Psalms, in fact, of all of Scripture is in Psalm 11. It goes like this, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The word here foundations, we’ll learn in a minute is “pillars.” In fact, It’s a very formal word, it has the idea when the civil authorities or when a society or when the laws of a culture are no longer enforced and it crumbles. In other words, you could say when anarchy starts happening in a culture or a country or a society, what are God’s people supposed to do?

In fact, maybe a better way to put it is this is when good is called evil and evil is called good, what are the righteous to do? When corruption and evil are winning, winning in academia, winning in culture, what are the righteous to do?

When truth evaporates, what are the righteous to do? When there’s violence in the cities, when statues are pulled down, when laws aren’t enforced, when people have disregard for one another, what are the righteous to do? When censorship of truth is celebrated and people who say marriage, or a life in the womb, is important are now haters and bigoted and narrow and actually are dangerous people, what are the righteous to do?

When self and greed and institutions can’t be trusted, when information coming from whatever source is who knows if it’s true, who knows what we are getting, when you don’t trust the government, you don’t trust academic institutions, you don’t trust corporations.

I don’t mean any of that politically. Those are just facts. And they are getting worse and the fact is that AI will probably have some tremendous, tremendous benefits, but we will have opportunity for exploitation like never before. And, sadly, what is it when you can’t trust the Church? When whether it’s pastors in sexual immorality or priests with a history of sexual immorality and cover-ups and when there’s corruption, when doctrine is compromised, when you begin to add all these things together, what are the righteous to do?
You know, at some point you just say, “Look what is happening all around us and what about our kids, what about our schools, what about the Church, what about truth, what about life? I mean, what about all these wars?” What are the righteous to do?

And David was in a very similar place where the foundations were destroyed. We don’t know the exact historical context. It could be when Absalom had overtaken the government and there was a coup and he was running for his life. It could have been when Saul went completely off the rails and decided: I’m threatened and I’m going to kill David.

But what he knows is, in this particular case, everything has fallen apart and the people that should execute justice are no longer doing it. I mean, when the king starts killing priests and not just one and it’s so evil that he tells the guards to do it and they all won’t and he’s got one really mean, heartless person named Doeg and he literally takes his sword and butchers thirty priests right in a row. The foundations of justice and law and civility were gone.

And David is in that kind of situation and he’s fleeing for his life. And in verse 1 of Psalm 11 it says, “In the Lord, in Yahweh, I take refuge.” And then he raises this question, because his advisors have said, “We have a plan.” But he says, “How can you say to my soul, ‘Flee as a bird to the mountains, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; and they make ready the arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness in the upright of heart.”

And so, David said: Whoa, wait a second. God is my refuge, my faith, I can’t give up my faith; I’m the king. I can’t run to the mountains. In fact, in this series about being bold and strong, every message I have given you a phrase, a declaration. Are you ready for this one? In Psalm 11, here’s your declaration: I will not run and hide.

In a world, in a church, in a difficulty, in economy, in wars, in being canceled, you’re a follower of Jesus. I want you to declare, based on Psalm 11, and you’ll learn why in a minute: I will not run and hide. I will not allow my fear of evil winning to cause me to go and find a secure place in a little world in a gated-type community, and I won’t open my mouth and I won’t do anything and I won’t rock the boat because I know if I do, there’s going to be, as they say in the world, hell to pay.

This is a very strong call to the righteous. And what David’s advisors, I’m sure they want him to be protected. But David is a righteous man. He says, “I can’t run and hide.” He says, “Behold, the wicked, their bows are already bent.” In other words, the danger isn’t going to come later, the danger is imminent. The problem is right now.

You better do something right now because this is really dangerous and it’s not way out there. And it’s not only really dangerous but they are doing it covertly. Notice the next line. It says, “They shoot in the darkness.” Literally, the word is they are shooting from out of the shadows.

And how much of all that has happened wasn’t overt. It was from the shadows, it came through the media, it came through academia, it came through educational training. It’s coming through DEI. It came through city councils and while Christians were doing many other things, they weren’t running for office. While Christians were doing many other things and pursuing a lot of things, we didn’t get much involved in government, we didn’t get involved in our world, in our community.

And some people with a very, very clear agenda, very clear agenda, and a very specific game plan decided that America should be a different America. And this isn’t just about America, there is an ideology that is going around the world and it’s not new. But what it does, it dethrones God, it dethrones truth, it has a very clear agenda to stop life, to cancel marriage, to destroy the nuclear family, to eliminate any sense of right and wrong, absolute truth.

And it has a whole different picture of what life should be between the oppressed and the unoppressed and a different set of rules that make life very confusing, very unfair, and absolutely tragic. And before we get all hostile about where it might come from, I will tell you where it comes from. It comes from the enemy himself and he has deceived a lot of people, many who think they are doing a great thing and that’s why evil is most dangerous when those who are purporting it believe they are being righteous in their evil.

And so, David says: I’m not going to run and hide. I know it’s imminent, I know it’s coming from the shadows, I get that it’s scary, I realize that I am in danger and you’re in danger.

And then they say: But you don’t understand, David. It’s hopeless. Okay? They give him this rhetorical question. They say, “If the foundations are destroyed,” civil government, laws are destroyed, “what can the righteous do?” And just in case you might be thinking I’m exaggerating, I’d ask you if you will to, I don’t know whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent. I’d like you to lean back and think through this lens. The actual word here for foundations is “pillars,” as I shared. But this isn’t just a thought. You can read any commentary, good Hebrew commentary, this is when the civil authorities, those who had been charged with governing to keep justice and safety and the benefit of all people, when that crumbles it’s a picture of the foundation.

It’s a picture of a house on a foundation. And the foundation goes and everything just slips into it. They say, “What do the righteous do?” Can I give you a few examples of the anarchy, that’s the picture. It’s a picture of there are no laws. Everyone does whatever. Everyone grabs, everyone takes, there’s no consideration for others. Forget right, forget wrong. It’s our stuff.

Let me give you some examples. Portland gets taken over by a group. Chicago becomes a place where daytime murders are something that is not even shocking. Stores are looted across the nation and people take out up to a thousand dollars with no consequences. People are arrested and then immediately released to go right back into the streets and do exactly the same thing, because there’s a new ideology about what happens when a person is arrested.

There are open borders - think of no law, no filters, not a political open borders question, obviously, there are real refugees, but millions and millions of people and hundreds of thousands of drugs coming into our country. Regardless of where you’re at on the political scene, we happen to be the only country in the world that operates this way currently. Children being able to get drugs or potential surgeries without their parents even knowing.

Police are told not to arrest. Christians are told that because you believe in life in the womb, or you believe in marriage – not that you’re against other people having the freedom to have whatever kind of relationships, but the fact that you even believe that and don’t endorse this, you’re anti-American, you are a dangerous person.

In other words, I want you to know that the foundations of right and wrong, of truth, of love, of compassion, of God, of evil – all those things are being blurred. The foundations are literally crumbling. And what do the righteous do? What is our calling? Because what I will tell you is, by and large, there have been a couple responses. And, again, I don’t mean this politically, these are observations.

There are some righteous that have seen this happen and they are very, very angry and they are very, very vocal and they are involved in a cultural war that is all about our tribe or their tribe and, I mean, it is hostile and most people after meeting them or reading or seeing their posts do not have a higher opinion of Jesus or the gospel of what we are all about. And it’s sort of gasoline on the fire both directions. There’s a far, far greater group that actually is silent. I looked at a study where, in America, you know, the bell curve, about six percent of the population in America is far right and about six percent is far left. And the overwhelming majority is in the middle.

And the overwhelming majority is silent and afraid because if I bring even this topic up or that topic up or that name or this name, all of a sudden you have polarization, division, and we have people who have cowered. A lot of coffee talk, a lot of private conversations about how bad things are and maybe hiding behind social media, say this or say that. But there has not been a righteous response the way that David has a righteous response.

See, the question is: When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? David says in verses 4 through 6: I’ll tell you what we can do. We can look up. We can look up. Verse 4, “The Lord is in His holy temple.” He’s not talking about a literal temple, here. It’s not even built yet. He said, “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne,” by the way, both times he uses His personal name. This is Yahweh. This is the personal God. This is the I AM THAT I AM. “He’s in His holy temple and He’s on His throne in heaven.” So, He’s king. Throne, King, Judge, sovereign, powerful.

Well, what is He doing? “His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. And the Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence, His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain snares; fire and brimstone, and burning wind will be [the] portion of their cup.” Do you see what he’s saying? He says when everything is falling apart, I’m going to look up to the Lord in His holy temple, He is the king and He’s in control, and by the way, He’s not caught by surprise.

Notice the very first thing: “His eyes behold,” and this very interesting, “His eyelids test the sons of men.” Why eyelids? You know, when you and I are looking at something, we are looking at this. And then when we really want to focus on it, what do we do? We squint. We bring our eyelids together and we really focus.

And David is saying this: In the midst of these foundations falling, I’ve got news for you. Number one, God is still in control. And number two, He is looking and observing what is going on.

And notice where the tests are. It’s a word for examining. He’s seeing into what is going on. He says He tests the righteous and He tests the wicked. See, it’s really easy and we are guilty of this so I’ll own it, when things are falling apart, what do we do? Them. Them. And then we blame everybody. Those evil people, that political party, those people who do that, those people who do that. And then we find, if you’re a follower of Jesus, other Christians. They are not doing that and they should be doing this and…this group is wrong over here and this group is wrong over here but I perfectly have a balance and perspective of it all. That’s our human nature.

And God says if you are passive and hiding and just saying, “You know what? I just want a good job. I don’t want headaches. You know, I’m going to put my kid in a private school.

I’ve got enough finances.” By the way, there are some people that you can protect yourself. There’s a whole lot of people that can’t. They don’t have the money to do that. They don’t have the power to do that. And so, that’s why you see this polarization more and more between the haves and the haves-not.

And God calls us. We are the Church. He says the Lord is testing the righteous. God is looking for a man, God is looking for a woman, He’s looking for a student, He’s looking for some people who say, “I get it, the foundations have been destroyed. I see where things are at.”

And before He looks at the wicked, He’s looking at us and says: What are you doing? I’m going to evaluate you on how you respond to this situation. Are you a part of the problem? Better yet, are you a part of the solution? And I think the answer to that is what we are called to be and what we are called to do.

What the righteous need to do is not look over here and blame, we are to look up and say, as Isaiah did in his crisis time, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. You are holy. I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people that are unclean.”

First, deal with me. And then, “Here am I.” I’ll do whatever You want me to do. That’s what God is looking for.
Notice, he says, when He looks upon the wicked and they love violence, “His soul hates.”

You know, he says: You know something? There was a day when things got really out of control. He’s kind of saying to his advisors here. Remember there was a day when, I mean, it got evil. It got really evil. And it got so evil God couldn’t stand it and you remember what He did? He said, “Lot, you better get out of town.” And Abraham prayed.

Abraham was standing up for righteousness. And fire and sulfur and there was a Sodom and Gomorrah and God judged.

Don’t think that God doesn’t still judge. And by the way, I don’t know exactly how He does it. But I would at least intimate that there are enough major, major national disasters that are letting us see that we are pretty puny and pretty powerless despite all of our technology and all of our wisdom and all of our power. I wonder at times, what would God need to do to get our attention?

God is looking for a man, God is looking for a woman, He’s looking for a student, He’s looking for some people who say, “I get it, the foundations have been destroyed. I see where things are at.”

And before He looks at the wicked, He’s looking at us and says: What are you doing? I’m going to evaluate you on how you respond to this situation. Are you a part of the problem? Better yet, are you a part of the solution? And I think the answer to that is what we are called to be and what we are called to do.

David says God is testing the righteous, God is testing the wicked, He’s telling the righteous you may have to live through some very challenging things, but the righteous, what are they to do? They’re to make a difference.

It was very true in Daniel’s day. And what the righteous need to do is not look over here and blame and not look in here and be afraid. We are to look up and say, as Isaiah did in his crisis time, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. You are holy. I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people that are unclean.”

First, deal with me. Speak to me. Show me what I need to do in my life and then, “Here am I.” I’ll do whatever You want me to do. That’s what God is looking for. It was in that kind of a crisis, there was a teenager in the most powerful country of the world called Babylon and there was this teenager who said: You know, I’m sorry. I can’t go along with the culture. It is evil.

And he took a stand. He took a stand early on and God honored it. And then later under Persia he took another stand and God honored it. And then in the book of Daniel it says, “Those who truly know their God believe and take bold steps for Him.”

And what you will find is all through Old Testament and New Testament, that’s what He is looking for. “The eyes of the Lord are going to and fro throughout the whole earth that He could strongly support a man, a woman, a student,” someone ordinary just like you and just like me. And that’s what He has always done.

And it can be a young, beautiful woman when the nation is going down the tubes who is really afraid, like Esther. And then looks and says, well, “Perhaps for such a time, this is why I’m where I’m at.” How about you? Perhaps maybe you are exactly where you’re at - where you live, what you have, how you think, what your gifts are, what position you have, what influence you have - for such a time was this, because the foundations indeed are crumbling. So, what do the righteous do? We look up and then we look out and then we make a difference.

He’s looking for normal people like you and me. And Jesus came and said: Look, this is how it works. The foundations were crumbling when Jesus came. Judaism was far from God’s ideal. Rome was a brutal, ruthless culture. The Greek ideology and ethics and morality had just, it was just pathetic. I mean, some of the places like Corinth make Vegas look like a church.

And it was into that that God gave His Word, His presence, His promises, and His power and the Church just started in little groups of light where they were, not whining and blaming about all the things they couldn’t change. They took steps in their spheres of influence for what they could change. And it always begins with, “God, what do You want to do in me first?” And so, that’s what we do. It takes a righteous man or a righteous woman to say, “We are going to rebuild the foundations.”

You know, Theresa and I have had multiple opportunities. They have a ministry called Heal Our Patriots, and whether they are Christians or not, they bring people who have been damaged in Iraq or Afghanistan or in special ops. They have no arms or they have had their brains scrambled or – and they assign a chaplain for life. And they take them away and do some counseling and every now and then they have a big event.

And we have had the privilege of speaking at that and then spending the whole weekend and sitting around tables with people that have given their life. And as one lady turned to me, she said, “His body is still here but my husband went to serve our country and he never came back.” And he was aware enough, he said, “I, uhm” as he shook and had a dog next to him, “I can still do a little on my computer, but I am about at a sixth-grade level, now.” And he was a whiz before he went.

Or I think of Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that if there’s a tragedy, somehow, someway they are there with the love of Jesus. They are not blaming people for this or blaming people for that, and you see, there’s a really high price to restore the foundations, but they don’t get restored by posting and they don’t get restored by blaming and they don’t get restored by being hyper-political.

They get restored when God’s people rebuild the foundations. One brick, one block at a time where you are at in your life. And it starts even before that where we look at our own personal brick or block and say, “This one needs to be a holy brick or block. I need to own my part of anything that is happening here before You’re going to use me to help anything out there.” And as we do, God will rebuild the foundations.

I think of historically. It was illegal to preach outside the walls of the church, because that’s the only holy place and they had perverted doctrine and the Church of England was in bed with the king. And it was – became political. And so, John Wesley said, “You know what? I’m going to go outside!” And he starts a movement and he comes to America. Just one little guy.

And then Whitefield did the same thing. And then Wilberforce says, “Slavery is wrong. We can’t have this!” And he stayed in the parliament and served in the government until in England it was outlawed.

What can the righteous do? Answer: look up. Second answer: repent. Third answer: make a difference. Just make a difference where you are. You use your time, I’ll use my time, you use your influence, I’ll use my influence, you use your money, use your talents, you use your gifts, but you can’t hide. You can’t hide and you can’t flee and you can’t be quiet.

And you also, you can’t be mean and you can’t be a jerk and you can’t be arrogant and you can’t think this is all about you and your tribe and how you see things. This is about the gospel and the kingdom of God and of balancing with clarity the truth of God with the love of God in a package that goes to help people. That’s what turns the tide. That’s what makes a difference. And notice verse 7 - Reason: “For the Lord is righteous.” So, after all of this, “Hey David! Flee to the mountains!” “I can’t!” “Why?” “God is my refuge. I’m not going to run and hide.” “No, you don’t understand though. The danger is imminent. It’s terrible! And you could die!” “That’s true. That’s right, I could.” It’s almost like Christians these days don’t believe in heaven anymore. He says, the Lord is righteous and He loves righteousness. Literally, He loves righteous deeds.

Those things I was talking about, when you do them, God already loves you, but He loves it when you do righteous deeds, when you help the poor, when you bring peace in a family, when you use your money to make a difference, when you say, “You know, I guess if this education is going to get better, I’ll join the board of education. I’ll run for office. I’ll go down to the school. I’ll volunteer. My life can’t be about just me or my world or all my kids and all their sports and all my happiness. I’m going to be a kingdom citizen, I’m going to hear God’s voice, I’m going to be a difference-maker.”

And most of the great things that have happened and are happening, by the way, there are movements all over America and it’s often just a mom over here and it starts out and she goes, you know, “They’re just teaching this stuff in schools and I don’t think it’s right. And the other moms believe that, “Yeah.” And they start a little thing and pretty soon, laws are getting changed and lives are being changed and truth is being exalted.

I do understand and I don’t want to make light, and so, let me say this as kindly but as directly as I can. I do understand that we have grown up in such a safety world that the idea of being harmed or being in danger or have someone attack you, whether that’s verbally, mostly verbal in America, still. But, actually, what if there is physical danger or what if things continue in a way that, I mean, it really gets scary? The very last line talks about God rewards the righteous. And David’s perspective, as we’ll learn in Psalm 16 is, I am absolutely certain I am going to be resurrected.

I will live forever. I don’t have to be afraid of death. I don’t have to be afraid. I remember many years ago and I don’t mean this in a derogatory way but there was an evangelist who really did a lot of good things and he was running low on money and he kind of came out with this story, I’m not sure where or how, but he said Jesus said if the people don’t give the money to the ministry, that Jesus was going to kill him, you know? And, you know, he got a lot of flak for that and, but it went around the world.

And I was in the Philippines doing some ministry at the time and we were sharing Christ, playing basketball, doing some things. It was after my college years but a little bit later.

And I was, became friends with a young guy that – I had been there a number of times and he goes, I really want you to come to my house. I want you to meet my wife.” And so, I get on the back of a motorcycle, terrified as we go through Manila and then we get to a place where all, it’s all cardboard houses, right? You know, just lean-tos and a piece of here and it was a slum. And there was one line. It was really amazing, one little line and that had one light bulb and this was his house, because a missionary friend of mine got him that so he could read the Bible at night and all the people from the slums would come.

And so, I walked into his house and he was a such a warm and caring guy and I noticed there was, like, it was a dirt floor but there was, like, one little room and it had a sort of like a cot. And he said, “I sleep this way, my wife sleeps this way, and our two little boys sleep between us.” And then it had just a little bit of a rise and had a place where they could cook their food. So, I mean, it’s one light bulb and he feels like he’s rich, because no one else has a light bulb.

And it was so humbling. And then he turned to me and he said you know, I’ve kind of followed this evangelist but there’s something I don’t understand.” And I said, “What’s that?” He said, “Well, he said that if this money doesn’t come in, that Jesus is going to kill him.” And he said, “Well, if he dies, won’t he be with Jesus? I mean, immediately?” I said, “Well, yeah.” He said, “Well, then how could that be a bad thing?” You know?

And it struck me, just, you know, a very poor person from another country who hears, oh, Jesus is “going to kill someone if money doesn’t come in” and he’s thinking, Oh, I think I’d hope the money wouldn’t come in. Because he had an eternal view. He actually believed that heaven was real and that would actually be a wonderful thing.

And I just say this as we close these things out, the early Church and all through history, Old and New Testament, and in the last couple thousand years there has always been men and women as there are today who understand that righteous deeds in an unrighteous world will be challenging, difficult, painful, persecuted, and may well cost your life.

We work with people around the world that it costs their life. I’ve been training in parts of the Middle East where the response was, because they were going to go into countries that I won’t name, “Will you teach us to die well because we know we won’t last long?”
That’s the kind of faith, that’s the kind of commitment.

Final story I’ll share, because it’s just more how most of us live. We did a series called Caring Enough to Confront as we saw the foundations crumbling, we as a ministry determined that we would seek to speak the truth in love, that we thought that the teaching of God’s Word that brings life and flourishing and encouragement and love and relationships - if you care about people, even if it’s unpopular - we should teach that.

And so, we did this series and, you know, I did an overview and I interviewed various people. And we addressed all those hot buttons: abortion and politics and the environment and LGBTQ and transgender and multiple things. And with a humble heart and with a recognition of people that are struggling and people that are hurting and how do we help people? But how do we share the truth and do it in love? And we knew that we would get a lot of pushback.

So, on some of the more controversial ones, we were blocked by one of those tech companies that you would know in a minute. But it brought me back to, it was about six months earlier when we were praying about: Should we do this?

And we knew it would be a volatile time because of all the political things that were going on in the country at the time. And we have one of our board members has a very, very high up role. And we were talking as a board that, okay, this could go really negative and people could come after the ministry, but they could really come after individuals on the board. And, I turned to him in the meeting. I said, “You could lose your job.” And I’ll never forget what he said. He said, “If I wasn’t willing to lose my job to give the truth of God to the people of God in America where it’s at, then I shouldn’t be sitting here.” And I thought, You know something? That is how the foundations get restored.

Could I encourage you? Be a difference-maker. Could I encourage you to stop blaming? Could I encourage you to actually say to the Lord, like David, I will not run and hide. I will overcome the power and the pressure of a world where evil appears to be winning.

I, like David, will look up, understand there’s a king, understand there’s a judge, understanding He’s testing me, understanding He is righteous, He loves the righteous deeds, and He is going to reward me now and forever if I do what verse 7 says. “For the Lord is righteous, He loves the righteous; the upright will behold His face. By the grace of God, I’m going to behold His face and if that happens a little sooner than I would like, I would like to believe, by the grace of God I’d be willing to take a stand even if that’s the price. And I believe that’s the kind of follower of Jesus that is going to make the world the kind of place you and I long for it to be. And God died and rose from the dead in the person of Jesus Christ to make that happen. Let’s make a difference together.