God Is Our Refuge When the Arrows Fly

Summary

A schoolyard incident illustrates God’s righteous judgment: the wicked’s attacks ultimately return upon themselves. Psalm 11 shows how the wicked oppose the righteous, yet true refuge is found in God, not escape. Believers are not promised comfort but ultimate safety within God’s will, even through suffering. God tests hearts, rewards the righteous with His presence, and judges the wicked with precise justice, ensuring every act receives its due.

A Schoolyard Lesson in Judgment

In junior high school, I played basketball during lunch break. I stole the ball from Arthur several times.

Suddenly, he whipped the ball at me from about five or six feet away without warning. It bounced off my knee and returned to strike him in the face.

That illustrates God’s judgment. The arrows of the wicked will return aflame to pierce their hearts.

How the Wicked Treat the Righteous

Psalm 11 describes how the wicked treat the righteous in every age. The righteous are like an uncomfortable splinter in their self-will.

The wicked have at least four splinter removal strategies. They make fun of believers. They attempt to win them over to their way of thinking. They pretend believers are all hypocrites. They persecute and kill them.

False Refuge or True Refuge

David’s advisors implied that the righteous are powerless against these onslaughts. They begged him to retreat and keep on retreating.

But David knew appearance was not always reality. True refuge for Him was in God, not in the mountains. He needed no additional hiding place.

God Is Our Refuge, Even When Struck

That did not mean the arrows of the wicked would never strike him. He was not immune to suffering, sorrow, and pain. The truth is deeper. The center of God’s will was his refuge and safety.

It is ours too. Even if the arrows strike us. Nevertheless, we remain safe and secure as God’s children.

Refuge means ultimate safety, not comfort. It is deliverance through, not always deliverance from. Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:8).

What Suffering Teaches the Righteous

Given that, why do we think God owes us prosperity and comfort? Enemy arrows teach us more fully that only obeying God is worth living and dying for.

David saw the ultimate reality. He realized that God knows every good and evil human action. He evaluates the wicked and the righteous.

He knows the righteous possess inner steel that will abide all testing (Job 23:10). Their reward is seeing His face.

By contrast, God’s testing of the wicked reveals that they love violence—in the Old Testament, violence referred to extreme wickedness. Because of it, God brought the flood (Genesis 6:11).

God’s Just and Final Judgment

The wicked face sudden and final judgment with precise retribution. God judges by a ricochet. Fiery coals and burning sulfur remind us of Sodom’s sudden and final judgment.

Repeatedly in the Old Testament, God fits the punishment to the crime. Repeatedly, we read, “Because you have… I have…” (1 Samuel 15:23). On Judgment Day, if not before, every arrow the wicked shot will return aflame to pierce their hearts.

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