Psalm 11:5 NKJV
The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
Refusing to Flee: Standing Firm in the Refining Fire
MY NOTES
“The Lord tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.” — Psalm 11:5 (NKJV)
When trials hit, human nature immediately asks, “Why is God allowing this?” When life gets painful or unfair, fear whispers that God has forgotten you—or worse, that He is against you.
David addresses that exact confusion in Psalm 11:5. Standing under the threat of violent enemies and unrighteous power, he looks at his hardships through the lens of divine purpose: “The Lord tests the righteous.” Faith, patience, hope, and love do not grow in ease. They show what they are when pressure comes. That is why Scripture can say the same God who loves His people also tries them.
Deuteronomy 8:16 NKJV
who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—
Hebrews 12:6 NKJV
For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.
1 Peter 1:6–7 NKJV
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
James 1:2–3 NKJV
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
None of that makes the fire pleasant. It does keep you from mistaking the fire for abandonment. If you belong to Him, the trial is not proof that He has left. It’s proof that He will not leave you unrefined.
Notice what David does not say. He does not say God abandons the righteous, nor does he say God is indifferent to their pain. He uses the word test—a term borrowed from metallurgy. A goldsmith doesn’t put precious metal into the furnace to destroy it; he puts it into the heat to refine it, separating the pure gold from the dross.
If you belong to God, your afflictions are divine refinement. God tests your faith, patience, and reliance on Him to strengthen your spiritual core. In fact, in the economy of God, to be tested is evidence of being valued. You don’t take time to refine worthless metal. You refine what is precious.
David then sets up a sharp contrast: “…but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.”
That is not a slip of language. God is not a detached observer. He is holy. Violence dressed up as power still offends Him. Cruelty that prospers for a season is not a sign of His approval. It is a sign that judgment has not yet arrived.
Proverbs 8:36 NKJV
But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.
Proverbs 13:24 NKJV
He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
Psalm 5:4–5 NKJV
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity.
God is not a passive bystander watching injustice unfold with indifference. While He allows the wicked a season of apparent victory, their hostility toward righteousness places them under His holy displeasure. God’s soul hates the violence and deceit that break His creation.
That distinction gave David tremendous courage. He realized two crucial truths that stopped him from running away in fear:
- His own trials were temporary refiners, meant for his good.
- His enemies were not winning; they were stepping into divine judgment.
This is why David could stand his ground. He did not need to flee every threat as if God were unaware. The same eyes that test the righteous also see the one who loves violence.
You do not have to pretend persecution is small. You also do not have to treat it as final. Trials sort people. They reveal what was already there: silver or tin, wheat or chaff, a living faith or a living lie. Standing when holiness is costly says more than standing when holiness is easy.
When you realize that God uses hardship to mature your faith while actively holding the wicked accountable, you don’t have to flee when pressure builds. You can stand firm, knowing that the furnace you are in isn’t meant to consume you—it’s meant to prove the reality of your faith.
So do not run from every test as if the test itself were the enemy. And do not fear every violent person as if God had not already marked the difference.
Prayer
Abba, when trials press hard against my life, help me to see them through Your eyes. Forgive me for confusing Your refining fire with Your absence. Remind my heart that You test those You love, not to break us, but to produce pure, unshakeable faith. Give me grace to endure under pressure without giving in to panic or resentment. Help me trust Your justice when I see the wicked prosper, knowing that You see all things and hold the ultimate victory. Refine my heart, burn away my self-reliance, and let my life bring praise and honor to Your name through every season. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.
Key Takeaways
- Trials Are Refiners: God allows the righteous to go through fire to test, prove, and strengthen their grace. Hardship is a tool for spiritual maturity, not a sign of divine rejection.
- Testing Is Evidence of Love: God refines what is valuable to Him. Expecting a life completely free of friction misinterprets how God builds character and faith in His children.
- God Is Not Neutral Toward Evil: God sees the acts and motives of the violent and deceitful. His patience toward the wicked is not tolerance; judgment belongs to Him.
- Confidence Replaces Cowardice: Knowing that God is refining you while actively watching your oppressors removes the urge to panic or flee under pressure.
Cross References
- Proverbs 17:3 (NKJV)
“The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts.” - Psalm 66:10 (NKJV)
“For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.” - Job 23:10 (NKJV)
“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Proverb for Today
Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9 NKJV
Daily Scripture
But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. John 12:23-26 NKJV
Closing
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
Grace be with you. Amen.
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“The Lord trieth the righteous:” he doth not hate them, but only tries them. They are precious to him, and therefore he refines them with afflictions. None of the Lord’s children may hope to escape from trial, nor, indeed, in our right minds, would any of us desire to do so, for trial is the channel of many blessings.
Tis my happiness below
Not to live without the cross;
But the Saviour’s power to know,
Sanctifying every loss.
Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to his feet—
Lay me low, and keep me there.
Did I meet no trials here—
No chastisement by the way—
Might I not, with reason, fear
I should prove a cast-away?
Bastards may escape the rod,
Sunk in earthly vain delight;
But the true-born child of God
Must not—would not, if he might.
—William Cowper.
Is not this a very cogent reason why we should not distrustfully endeavor to shun a trial?—for in so doing we are seeking to avoid a blessing.
“But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth:” why, then, shall I flee from these wicked men? If God hateth them, I will not fear them. Haman was very great in the palace until he lost favor, but when the king abhorred him, how bold were the meanest attendants to suggest the gallows for the man at whom they had often trembled! Look at the black mark upon the faces of our persecutors, and we shall not run away from them. If God is in the quarrel as well as ourselves, it would be foolish to question the result, or avoid the conflict. Sodom and Gomorrah perished by a fiery hail, and by a brimstone shower from heaven; so shall all the ungodly. They may gather together like Gog and Magog to battle, but the Lord will rain upon them “an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone:” Ezekiel 38:22.
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Enduring Word
The LORD tests the righteous: Again, David answered the question, If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? David answered, “The righteous can know that the LORD is testing them, and because a loving God is testing them, they can know they will not be pushed too far or forsaken. The righteous can know the LORD is in control.”
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates: As God sees, He is not a detached observer. He cares; He sees the wicked and hates them. David is saying, “I don’t need to flee to protect myself, because God in heaven is watching me and sees how sinful the conduct of my enemies is.”
—David Guzik
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Albert Barnes
The Lord trieth the righteous — That is, he “proves” them, searches them, tests the reality of their piety. His dealings with them are such as to test the genuineness of their religion, and are designed to show their sincerity and the real power of their religious principles. It is not for the purpose of destroying them, or punishing them, that he deals with them as he does, but it is to show the reality of their attachment to him. This language seems here to be used to show the feeling of the persecuted and afflicted author of the psalm. He understood the reason why these calamities were suffered to come upon him – to wit, as a trial of his faith; and therefore it was his duty to remain and bear these troubles, and not to attempt to escape from them by flight. He says, therefore, that these troubles in the case of the righteous were in strong contrast with the purpose of the divine dealings toward the wicked, on whom God would “rain” snares, fire, and brimstone. In their case his judgments were for the purpose of punishing and destroying; in the case of the righteous it was to “try” them, or to test the reality of their religion.
But the wicked — The wicked in general. All the wicked.
And him that loveth violence — Referring particularly here to those who were engaged in persecuting him who was the author of this psalm. They were contemplating acts of violence toward him Psalms 11:2; he says that all such persons were the objects of the divine displeasure, and would be appropriately punished.
His soul hateth — that is, “he” hates. God is often spoken of in language appropriate to man; and he is here referred to as having a soul – as he is elsewhere as having eyes, hands, or feet. The meaning is, that all such persons were the objects of the divine abhorrence, and that the divine dealings with them were not, as with the righteous, to “try” them, but to “punish” and “destroy” them. Knowing this, the persecuted author of the psalm, instead of fleeing, calmly committed himself and his cause to God.
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John Gill
The Lord trieth the righteous,…. As gold is tried in the fire, by afflictive providences; hereby he tries their graces, their faith, and patience, their hope, and love, and fear; and, by so doing, expresses his love to them, since this is all for their good: and therefore, when he suffers the wicked to go great lengths in persecuting and distressing them, this should not weaken, their confidence in him; he still loves them, and loves when he rebukes and chastises them;
but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth; that is, such who live in a course of sin and wickedness, and who not only do injury to the persons, characters, and properties of men, but love it, and delight therein, and also take pleasure in them that do the same: these God has a continued and inward aversion to; sin and wickedness being the abominable thing his righteous soul hates: and he shows his hatred to them, by not chastising them now, as he does his own people, but reserving everlasting punishment for them hereafter; see Proverbs 13:24.
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Matthew Henry
That, if he afflict good people, it is for their trial and therefore for their good, v. 5. The Lord tries all the children of men that he may do them good in their latter end, Deu. 8:16. Let not that therefore shake our foundations nor discourage our hope and trust in God.
That, however persecutors and oppressors may prosper and prevail awhile, they now lie under, and will for ever perish under, the wrath of God.
He is a holy God, and therefore hates them, and cannot endure to look upon them: The wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth; for nothing is more contrary to the rectitude and goodness of his nature. Their prosperity is so far from being an evidence of God’s love that their abuse of it does certainly make them the objects of his hatred. He that hates nothing that he has made, yet hates those who have thus ill-made themselves. Dr. Hammond offers another reading of this verse: The Lord trieth the righteous and the wicked (distinguishes infallibly between them, which is more than we can do), and he that loveth violence hateth his own soul, that is, persecutors bring certain ruin upon themselves (Prov. 8:36), as follows here.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“The Lord trieth the righteous.” Except our sins, there is not such plenty of anything in all the world as there is of troubles which come from sin, as one heavy messenger came to Job after another. Since we are not in paradise, but in the wilderness, we must look for one trouble after another. As a bear came to David after a lion, and a giant after a bear, and a king after a giant, and Philistines after a king, so, when believers have fought with poverty. they shall fight with envy; when they have fought with envy, they shall fight with infamy; when the have fought with infamy, they shall fight with sickness; they shall be like a laborer who is never out of work.
—Henry Smith.
“The Lord trieth the righteous.” Times of affliction and persecution will distinguish the precious from the vile, it will difference the counterfeit professor from the true. Persecution is a Christian’s touchstone, it is a lapis lydius that will try what metal men are made of, whether they be silver or tin, gold or dross, wheat or chaff, shadow or substance, carnal or spiritual, sincere or hypocritical. Nothing speaks out more soundness and uprightness than a pursuing after holiness, even then when holiness is most afflicted, pursued, and persecuted in the world: to stand fast in fiery trials argues much integrity within.
—Thomas Brooks.
Note the singular opposition of the two sentences. God hates the wicked, and therefore in contrast he loves the righteous; but it is here said that he tries them: therefore it follows that to try and to love are with God the same thing.
—C. H. S.
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