Psalm 11:3-4 (NLT)

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly thrown. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.

David was on the run. He had become a fugitive from the twisted law of King Saul and was in constant danger. His friends were concerned for him and encouraged him to “flee like a bird to your mountain” (Ps. 11:1b). His friends most likely meant well, but David knew it was the wrong thing to do. Rather than relying solely on his ability to run and hide and fight, David chose to invest his safety and security in God’s will. As Spurgeon put it, “He would rather dare the danger than exhibit a distrust in the Lord his God.”

David was living in a period of time much like our own in many ways. The “government” (Saul’s reign) had once been his ally but had become his enemy. He still had his close friends, but most of his countrymen were not interested in his plight. It seemed that the very foundations of his peaceful existence had been destroyed…at least to his companions…but to David, there was one overriding fact that his friends had forgotten: God was still large and in charge, ruling the universe with His feet up. Sometimes, in our fear and anxiety, we forget that.

Sometimes our friends counsel to despair, giving the opinion that a situation or a person is hopeless. Other times we give ourselves that same counsel. Quite simply, despair should never be on the menu for a follower of Jesus Christ. Regardless of the difficulties you may face, one fact stands in direct opposition: The God of your salvation…the author and perfecter of your faith (Heb. 12:2) …is “in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.” And while He may allow you to suffer for a time in the wilderness, or in a cave of loneliness and darkness, He will not leave you there. By most accounts, David had to endure 10 years of strife (to say the least) from the time of his anointing to the time when he actually ascended to the throne, but all the while he trusted that God would bring him through.

A great theologian once asked, “What plots can men devise which Jesus will not discover? Satan has doubtless desired to have us, that he may sift us as wheat, but Jesus is in the temple praying for us, and how can our faith fail? What attempts can the wicked make which Jehovah shall not behold? And since he is in his holy temple, delighting in the sacrifice of his Son, will he not defeat every device, and send us a sure deliverance?” These are all worthy questions with great and true and weighty answers…but will we believe them? Will we take the counsel of friends over the counsel of God’s Word? Will we take the counsel of our own fear and anxiety over the counsel of the Prince of Peace? Remember: God still rules the universe with His feet up…and with you, His child, perched securely on His lap!