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Lovers of God in a Dangerous Time*

Two Thoughts on Psalm 11

In the Lord I take refuge;
How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain;
For, behold, the wicked bend the bow,
They make ready their arrow upon the string
To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
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.
For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness;
The upright will behold His face. (NASB)

His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. 

Eyelids tell us so much about what a person feels about a given situation and we tend to gauge what they will do next based on facial expression. God sees what is going on, but He doesn't react to things the way we think He should. When the wicked aren't met with "instant karma" it's easy for both the righteous and the wicked to think that God doesn't care. The wicked get arrogant and the righteous despair the longer God waits. This is the test.
 

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,

And the one who loves violence His soul hates.


We are in such an era that wickedness is growing daily. The threat and manifestations of violence mount daily. The aggressiveness of those who hate God's people increases daily. We need to take this psalm seriously. God hates wickedness. Those who love violence are out of step with Him and when all is said and done it will be those who love righteousness who will be with Him forever. This is not to advocate passivity in the face of mortal danger, but seeking God; His will, his glory and His righteousness as first priority in a threatening situation is how we are to live.

It is popular to say, “God doesn’t hate anything” This psalm and others say differently. God hates that which destroys what He loves. Wickedness and the love of violence destroy those who practice them as well as their victims and society. How could God not hate something like that?
 *Playing on the title of a song by The Barenaked Ladies called “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”
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Comments

Illuminate said…
With your knowledge of the situation in the Ukraine, what are your views of the 777 shoot down?
11:54 AM
Mandy said…
Having heard the intercepted phone calls, I believe that it was done by 'separatists;' they clearly thought it was a Ukrainian military craft since the guy at HQ kept asking where "the weapons" was. Their reactions to realizing it was a civilian craft were not the sort of thing someone would make up to frame an enemy, it was too human. They sounded genuinely alarmed and bothered by this mistake. I believe Putin's statement blaming Kyiv for fighting against the separatists (as if they had a choice) causing the situation to exist in which this happened is telling; he knows that his allies fired the missile.
11:12 AM
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