Psalm 11—Explicable Courage (Part 1): Canonical Context

by on November 9, 2024 | Comment

It is funny how our lodging place changes our perspective on the severity of our surrounding conditions. In a nice and sturdy house, a basic rainstorm seems inconsequential—people inside often even enjoy the patter of raindrops against their windows. On the other hand, even a basic rainstorm can be a serious problem if you live in a flimsy tent, or even worse, in a cardboard box.

The level of seriousness in the problems we face often has to do with how good the walls around us are. What can feel like something major with thin or no walls becomes at worst an inconvenience with strong walls around us. The strength of our shelter can turn a genuine threat into background noise.

Psalm 11 gives us insight into the power a shelter has to provide safety, not just when it comes to the weather, but also in the spiritual circumstances of life. Here, David expresses trust in the God who made him.1 As we will see in our exposition in part two, this psalm contains David’s response to the bad advice he received, which he records in verses 1c–3. In response, David sets out reasons why potentially threatening forces should not cause us to fear. This psalm shows how, when we understand who God is and our relationship to him, we much more easily put our fears to rest.

Psalm 11 has great fruit for our discipleship because it reminds us of the higher realities that stand above our experience of trouble. It is a reminder of the fundamental spiritual truths that ought to shape how we process the troubles of this world.

In this respect, we are considering Psalm 11 as being about explicable courage. We might often hear about “inexplicable courage.” In the Christian life, however, our courage has real explanation. We have clear reasons for why we can be courageous. Our courage is neither blind nor empty. It stands upon the heavenly realities that God is in his temple reigning on behalf of the righteous.

This series argues that the main point of Psalm 11 is that God is the only true and ultimate source of safety. When we lift our eyes above earthly reasons for safety, we find much greater solace. Earthly provisions for certainty and protection may erode and crumble. But for Christians, we know that even these disasters do not remove our true and real protection. We place our trust not in princes and chariots but in God almighty who cares for his people.

This article examines how Psalm 11 fits within the Psalter itself. Literature is growing about how the Psalms were carefully arranged and have specific reason for where they fall in the Psalter.2 At least this author is increasingly convinced that the Psalter is worth preaching as a book, doing sequential expository preaching as we do with any other biblical book. Thus, this article aims to get a bead on what Psalm 11 distinctly contributes to the developing point of the Psalter as it is placed where we find it.

The Psalter’s Outline

The Psalter has a main purpose—namely, to focus God’s people on their messianic king in light of the law and the gospel. In a previous article, I argued that Psalms 1–2 form the introduction to the Psalter (not a point original to me), which orients us to the fact that the Psalms are about the law and the gospel.3 Psalm 1 teaches us about the Psalter as instruction—God’s statutes and law—both as it applies to the righteous and the wicked.

Psalm 2 shows us that the Psalter is a book about the king of God’s people.4 It is about that king in two ways: in light of the law and the gospel. Psalm 2:12 displays both aspects: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” As Psalms 1–2 both establish, the wicked who rage against this king will be destroyed. They are condemned by the law and thrown down as God shatters the nations who rage against their king. In Psalm 2:12, we see how the Son’s wrath will burn against those who rage against him. So, the Psalms instruct us about how the messianic king brings judgment. They teach us that without salvation, the law is bad news for every sinner.

Psalm 2:12 also reveals how the Psalms highlight the messianic king as key to the gospel: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” From Psalm 1, we know that the blessed man delights in the Lord’s law. While we strive after true but imperfect obedience in the Christian life, we learn from Psalm 2 that the king—ultimately Jesus Christ—is the truly righteous one who is blessed by God and distributes blessing to all who belong to him. So, even in the Psalms, we learn about how Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf as the true righteous man. We also learn that one of the blessings of the gospel is that we take our refuge in this king.

Accordingly, the whole Psalter is about the king in light of the law and the gospel, and it teaches us to pray about every situation we might face in light of the law and the gospel. The Psalms have a fundamental Christological focus, as this book is a collection of songs about our Savior. The Psalter also has a personal focus as it teaches us about the godly response to the full spectrum of experience and emotion that we encounter in the Christian life. It is thus a book about our discipleship, showing us how we praise God in pursuit of understanding. Psalm 11 has its mooring in this broader framework for the Psalms.

The Placement of Psalm 11

Psalm 11 is most broadly situated in Book I (Psalms 1–41), more narrowly in the grouping of Psalms 3–14, and most narrowly in the group of Psalms 9–14. Psalms 3–14 take their lead from Psalm 2. That introductory Psalm declares God’s promises that his messianic king will prevail against his enemies. Psalm 2 thus gives us the heavenly perspective on world events as we wait for Christ to complete his victory when all his enemies are made subject to him (1 Cor 15:20–28).

Psalms 3–14 provide earthly perspective on the same reality, specifically that the nations will rage despite God’s promises. This section shows what it is like experientially to endure that raging as we wait for God to fulfill those promises. It is made of two sub-sections of six psalms that repeat a specific pattern.5 Psalms 3–7 are five prayers about that experience of the nations raging and are followed in Psalm 8 by one reflection on the human condition. That pattern repeats as Psalms 9–13, another set of five prayers about the experience of the nations raging, followed by Psalm 14 which reflects on the general human condition. That repeated grouping of psalms engages with life in this age as the nations rage against God’s king and his people. Despite the promise of victory for the messianic king and the promise of blessing for all who take refuge in that king, we still must wrestle with the experience of this age as the nations rage.

Psalm 11 occupies a notable place in the run of prayers in Psalms 9–13. Psalm 9 was a prayer full of confidence about the Lord’s provision even in hard times. There, David prays with conviction about how God will come through for him. In Psalm 10, that confidence wavers; we find him feeling as if God is further removed from his troubles. Psalm 11 returns us to that place of confidence as David waves off advice to be fearful of the world’s tumults as being uninformed about who is truly reigning. In Psalm 12, we will find that confidence waver again.

That pattern teaches us something about the vacillations of confident and trembling prayer in the Christian life. Back-to-back, perhaps even on the same issue, we may find ourselves praying with resolve about the Lord’s faithfulness and soon-coming action, only to be shortly after dismayed as we cry out in terror. God teaches us that this is part of the ups-and-downs of the normal prayer life.

Psalm 13–14 invert that pattern of confidence and despair. David’s prayer in Psalm 13 closes this section with a sense of defeat. On the other hand, Psalm 14 reflects upon how foolish it is for the wicked to deny God’s existence and reign over world affairs.

Psalm 11 then lifts us back to the heavenly perspective. It teaches us about how to pray with confidence. It teaches us how to pray well when we feel confident. It also teaches us how we might recover that confidence when ours has wavered.

Notes

  1. Bruce K. Waltke and Fred G. Zaspel, How to Read and Understand the Psalms (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 347–48; John Goldingay, Psalms, 3 vols., Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006–8), 1:188; Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, 3 vol. (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic Press, 2011–16), 1:338–39.
  2. Bruce K. Waltke and Fred G. Zaspel, How to Read and Understand the Psalms (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 477–98; O. Palmer Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering their Structure and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015).
  3. See Harrison Perkins, “An Introduction To The Psalter On The Law And The Gospel: Psalms 1–2,” Heidelblog.
  4. Waltke and Zaspel, The Psalms, 73–82.
  5. Waltke and Zaspel, 480–81.

© Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this whole series here.

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