Psalm 11 gives us David willing to stand his ground when everything seems stacked against him. He had people telling him to run to the hills because there were others out to destroy those who followed God. It sounds like the whole nation had been shaken. It would make sense to leave and chase after safety.

How often are our lives like that – everything seems stacked against us and the trouble keeps coming? How often does it seem like there’s nothing left to do but get out? I’ve got friends in other parts of the world in drawn out conflict zones who feel like that often – their efforts seem useless, it’s tough and they want to get out… but they hang in there. To be honest, I don’t know if I could do what they do.

David was someone who stuck with it because he had already done the running and landed straight in the arms of God and he knew that faced with the brokenness in the world, God isn’t going anywhere. He’s the God who loves justice and justice cannot be done from a distance. God is in the thick of it. He’s in the thick of our personal struggles and he’s in the thick of the world’s messes. If he’s not going anywhere then we’re not either.

As The Message says in verse 7 of the Psalm ‘God’s business is putting everything right.’

Jesus was faced with the desire to run while prayed on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39-46). He was in anguish and was asking the Father to take the suffering from him – he knew the crucifixion was coming. Ultimately he submitted to the Father though and for it he was glorified and justice, that thing God loves, was made a visible reality in the birth of a new way and new life through the resurrection. Jesus is the image of the God who doesn’t go anywhere, he places himself in the thick of it and pursues the action of making all things right. That’s something we can hold onto when everything is stacked against us and we just want to run.

May we be people who live and work in the affirmation of a God who loves justice and is involved, compelling the world forward. May we know his involvement and may it fuel our activity in the world no matter how big or small that activity may be.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.