Sandals Church Podcast

In Psalm 11, David faces threats from his enemies, yet he finds refuge in the righteousness of God. Pastor Fredo explores how, even in times of uncertainty, we can trust that God sees all and will uphold justice. This chapter reminds us that the foundation of our faith is secure in the Lord, who is our refuge.
Pastor Fredo also discusses the deep conviction that God’s holiness and justice will ultimately prevail. For those facing trials, this Psalm is a powerful reminder that God is in control, and His judgment is always right.

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What is Sandals Church Podcast?

At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so, as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you, and so would you join us. Grace and peace. Today, we are in Psalm 11 as we continue through praying the Psalms. David writes this beginning in verse 1.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

I trust in the Lord for protection. So why do you say to me, fly like a bird to the mountains for safety? The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right. The foundations of law and order have collapsed.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

What can the righteous do? But the lord is in his holy temple. The lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely. Examining every person on earth, the lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

He hates those who love violence. He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds. For the righteous lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face. For reflection, I wanna draw our attention to what we see there at the very end of verse 1.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

After David has declared that he trusts in the Lord for protection, he then responds to this question that's offered to him. So why do you say to me, fly like a bird to the mountains? Right? In other words, someone is offering to him, to escape, like, take flight, get out of here, which is, I think, the real natural human thing for us to do as we, consider the troubles that we face, the issues of the world around us. There is a natural inclination in all of us today to run, to flee, and to take flight.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

David poses that question. Why would you say to me, run-in light of what the wicked are doing, in light of the ways that they are preparing to aim their battle, their their arrows and their battle weapons? And then David comes to this realization there in verse 4, but the Lord is in his temple. His eyes are watching everything closely. As we begin our day today, there is an opportunity for us to look out and see the world as it is, but then to look up and to realize that God sees all that we see, and even more so.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

And so instead of taking flight, today we can take our faith and hold on to what we know is true about God, that he is the righteous God who loves justice. More than what you love in terms of doing what is right, God loves what is right so much more. And so there's hope for us. There's a refuge for us to not try to escape our troubles, but to take refuge in him knowing that he is a God who sees all and he will act accordingly today. And so today as we, Jesus, hear your words through this psalm, we receive the invitation to not run from our troubles, to not try to escape into, forms of entertainment, or doom scrolling or any other kinda activity that we might try to use to numb the reality of our troubles.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

But God, would you help us to take hold of our faith, to have our eyes not just fixed on the world around us, but to have our eyes fixed on you who is looking back at us. We open our hands today and receive the good news that you are the God who will act justly. And so we look to you for hope now. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Grace and peace.

Pastor Fredo Ramos:

Stay tuned for Psalm 12.