1 I have taken refuge in the Lord.
      How can you say to me,

       “Escape to the mountain like a bird!
     2 For look, the wicked string the bow;
          they put the arrow on the bowstring
          to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
     3 When the foundations are destroyed,
          what can the righteous do?”

If you are about my age and grew up in the U.S., you probably learned to “duck and cover.” Perhaps you learned it with help from this brimming-with-confidence turtle in a short film titled, appropriately, “Duck and Cover” (click the turtle to see the film). For those who missed it, “duck and cover” is what you do in case of nuclear attack. Crawl under your school desk and assume the fetal position (we practiced), which will help protect you. Or a rolled-up newspaper is also good for protection. I am not making this up.
     As we learned more about that in-case-of called “nuclear attack,” we also learned about dark humor as a coping mechanism. I remember being asked a few times what I would do in case of nuclear war, as if that would be a time to exercise freedom of choice, and I answered “die,” not meaning voluntarily, but against my will, like other people. Something to think about in seventh grade.
     Americans generally have a few things to get into a panic about, and if you watch for a few years, you’ll see the list of panic-inducers change repeatedly. And we also like thinking that if we do the right thing, we (personally, as individuals or families) will come out okay. Hence the smug smile on the turtle, sure-fire herbal ways to avoid the latest disease, and the smart thing to do about whatever economic collapse somebody thinks is coming (buy gold, stockpile beans or guns, etc.).
     Here in Psalm 11, the anticipated problem is “the wicked” and their weapons. Or maybe the archery equipment is metaphorical. Anyway, the psalmist’s neighbor is saying “Run for the hills! Things are about to fall apart!” But just as the realities and uncertainties of any potential nuclear war would likely make any preparation beside the point, so the uncertainties of attack by archers would also.
     What is certain is that God judges and saves.

4 The Lord is in His holy temple;
     the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
     His eyes watch; He examines everyone.
5 The Lord examines the righteous and the wicked.
     He hates the lover of violence.
6 He will rain burning coals and sulfur on the wicked;
     a scorching wind will be their portion.
7 For the Lord is righteous;
    He loves righteous deeds.
    The upright will see His face.

Therefore God can be the one in whom we take refuge, though that does not mean we can have any certainty about living through the next crisis. Against all predictions of God’s judgments stands the word “eventually,” and they all point to a hope of resurrection and a completion of salvation that we still await. We are still asking “How long?” (Psalms 6:3; 13:1–2; 35:17; 74:9–10, etc.).

• Psalm 11 is quoted here from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (2009).
• If an attack by archers sounds tame, see the King Arthur movie, the 2004 one with Clive Owen and Keira Knightley. It portrays battle under such conditions fairly accurately, though for the late Roman Empire, not the time of the Psalms. Ignore everything the movie says about Arthur, possible historical connections, Arthurian legend, and especially Pelagius.
• These posts on the Psalms are in aid of the reading of the Psalms—one a day through the first five months of 2022—by members, attenders, friends, et al. of Together Church, Wyoming, MI. We also have a Psalm a Day Facebook discussion group.