Fly Like a Bird to the Mountains?

A Bird in Nahal Zin

In the Lord I take refuge; 

how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark 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 see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 

Psalm 11:1–5

We live in a crazy world. I really have a hard time grasping all the conflicting feelings I have had over the recent news with the increase of ICE presence and the killing of a woman made in God’s image. It all seems like chaos to me. I am not a fan of walking out of the church building and breathing in whisps of tear gas from up the hill. And it seems pretty unsettling to have whistles blowing constantly whenever the immigration police are around. 

I think we might take some correction from the Psalmist. What do we as Christians do? We take refuge in the Lord. Now most of us don’t live with someone trying to kill us like David mentions in the Psalm, but the darts of the evil one are always pointed at us striking us so we leave the refuge of the Lord. We are tempted to find refuge in our political persuasions or our super smart opinions (we Andersens do know best). 

The question strikes us, ‘What can the righteous do?’ I suppose if there is injustice a person could protest. Or they could vote for the person who they think will accomplish justice. Or they could walk with victims, encourage people in the wrong to make it right. 

But there is no perfect justice on this side of Christ’s second coming. We just heard about king Herod’s terrible rule when Christ was born. Why was there a visible star so that everyone,  including evil people like Herod could see it? Why did so many infants die? Why…WHY? Christ came to bring peace, but this seems like chaos. This peace is first peace with God. Though my flesh may fail, God’s my portion forever. Remember many who experienced temporary physical peace, who were physically healed in Capernaum didn’t repent. Their hearts still were at war with God and others. There might have been a respite but there was no salvation, there was no perfect justice. And in a similar way today, we might from time to time experience respite from trials, but we won’t experience a complete redemption until Christ returns. 

I think that’s what the second part of the psalm invites us to sing: ‘God is in his holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.’ In other words, he is ruling over our present chaos. I left out the final verses, but they continue the theme reminding us of Sodom and Gomorrah. God will ultimately make things right like we have never imagined. And so we should be careful with our words not to presume to leave the Lord our refuge for the political corners we are tempted to inhabit or our corners of indifference. Instead we have confidence in the Lord, who made heaven and earth, and who will make it all right in the end.