Mixtape Vol.3 | Psalm for a Worst-Case Scenario by Pastor Gary Shiohama (Aug 9, 2026)

Psalm 11 stands as a psalm tailor made for worst case scenarios. David writes as a man who knew what it felt like when life went dark and ashen, when everything that looked stable started to burn down. The fire-scorched picture of Pacific Palisades becomes the kind of scene that presses the question hard, what can a person take when everything might be lost?

David knew that question from the inside. Saul’s jealousy put a target on his back. The massacre at Nob, the raid on Ziklag, the grief over his children, and the collapse inside his own family gave David plenty of “bumps and lumps and thumps.” Those wounds gave Psalm 11 its weight because David was not writing theory.

David’s advisers told him to run. The wicked had bent the bow, fitted the arrow to the string, and were ready to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart. The foundations were not merely shaky, they were surely being destroyed. The question at the end of verse 3 sounded final: “What can the righteous do?” The answer from fear was simple: nothing, so head for the hills.

David refuses to let fear have the last word. His friends fanned the flames of anxiety instead of firing up his faith, and that warning still matters. The wrong voices can drag a person down and lead that person off course. David’s question, “How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird to your mountain?” exposes how deeply bad counsel can wound a heart that is trying to trust God.

David answers with the center of the psalm: “The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in heaven.” The Lord is elevated above everyone and everything in the cosmos. His holy temple means heaven, and his throne means rule. God’s sovereignty means God is above, God reigns, and God is in control.

Psalm 103 says the same thing: the Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Isaiah 46 presses it further: God declares the end from the beginning. The future may be unknown and uncertain to human beings, but the future is fully known to God. God is never surprised, never caught off guard, and never forced to say, “I didn’t see that coming.”

David’s life shows that many plans sit in a person’s mind, but the purpose of the Lord stands. God’s people may plan for math, politics, flying F-16s, or making movies, but God’s purpose still has the final word. The same truth holds when life throws curveballs: job loss, heartbreak, lawsuits, miscarriages, cancer, hospice, or earthquakes. Psalm 11 calls the anxious heart to put its times into God’s hands because there are no better hands for life to be in.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Refuge answers worst case fear. [11:28] David begins with the settled confession, “In the Lord, I take refuge,” before answering the fear around him. That order matters because refuge is not denial of danger, but a decision about where the soul will stand when danger is real. Faith does not need the threat to disappear before it can speak. [11:28]
• 2. Friends can fan fear’s flames. [13:39] David’s closest voices told him to flee like a bird, and their counsel intensified anxiety rather than strengthening trust. The people who have a person’s ear often shape that person’s courage, imagination, and future. Wise friendship does not ignore danger, but it refuses to make fear sound more sovereign than God. [13:39]
• 3. God’s throne outranks every threat. [15:40] David answers assassination plots and collapsing foundations with a throne in heaven. The Lord’s holy temple lifts the eyes above the crisis without pretending the crisis is small. Sovereignty means the final authority does not belong to wicked arrows, ruined foundations, medical reports, financial losses, or human panic. [15:40]
• 4. The future is already held. [21:25] God declares the end from the beginning, which means the unknown future is not unknown to him. Nothing catches God off guard, and no worst case scenario forces him to adjust his throne. A person’s future is not finally in the hands of fate, chance, government, doctors, or earthquakes, but in the hands of a gracious and loving God. [21:25]
• 5. Anxiety belongs in caring hands. [29:31] First Peter calls the anxious heart to cast every care on God because he cares. Anxiety often grows when control feels necessary but impossible. Trust becomes practical when a person can say, “My times are in your hand,” and let God carry what human strength was never built to hold.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:33] - Palisades Fire and Evacuation Thoughts
• [03:22] - Endless Worst Case Scenarios
• [04:39] - Psalm 11 for Crisis
• [06:06] - David’s Life of Trouble
• [09:12] - Japan Megaquake Anxiety
• [11:11] - Fearful Counsel Around David
• [12:12] - Foundations Being Destroyed
• [13:39] - Choosing Friends Carefully
• [15:40] - The Lord on His Throne
• [16:44] - Sovereignty Means God Is Above
• [18:29] - God Is in Control
• [21:25] - God Controls the Future
• [24:27] - Many Plans, One Purpose
• [28:11] - God Rules Through Curveballs
• [29:01] - Trust Instead of Anxiety

Bible Reading

Psalm 11
“In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” [11:25]

Isaiah 46:9-10
“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’” [22:04]

Psalm 103:19
“The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” [17:47]

1 Peter 5:7
“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” [29:39]

Psalm 31:15
“My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!” [30:08]

Observation questions

1. In Psalm 11, what two threats are put in front of David, and how are they described in verses 2 and 3? [11:46]
2. What words in Psalm 11 show the difference between the counsel David received and the confidence David expressed?
3. According to Psalm 11:4 and Psalm 103:19, what is said about where the Lord is and how he rules? [17:47]
4. What repeated ideas show up in Isaiah 46:9-10, 1 Peter 5:7, and Psalm 31:15 about God’s relation to the future, anxiety, and a believer’s life? [29:39]

Interpretation questions

1. David begins with “In the LORD I take refuge” before he answers the fearful voices around him. What does that order suggest about how faith responds when danger is real? [11:28]
2. Psalm 11 moves from collapsing foundations on earth to God’s throne in heaven. How does that shift help explain what it means to say that God’s sovereignty outranks every threat? [15:40]
3. Isaiah 46 says that God declares the end from the beginning. How should that shape the way a believer thinks about an unknown future that feels frightening or unstable? [21:25]
4. “My times are in your hand” is a deeply personal statement. What does that confession mean in practice for someone who feels pressure to control outcomes that cannot actually be controlled? [30:08]

Application questions

1. What is one “worst case scenario” that tends to capture the mind most quickly right now? When that fear rises, what would it look like to say first, “In the LORD I take refuge,” instead of letting fear speak first? [11:28]
2. Fear often gets stronger through the wrong voices. Who most influences the way decisions are made in stressful moments, and do those voices strengthen trust in God or stir up more panic? [13:39]
3. God’s throne is in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. In what part of life is it hardest right now to believe that God is really in control—health, family, finances, work, the future, or something else? [29:01]
4. Anxiety often grows where control feels necessary but impossible. What is one burden that needs to be consciously handed over to God instead of carried alone? [29:39]
5. “My times are in your hand” can become a daily prayer. When during the day would it be most helpful to pray that—first thing in the morning, during a commute, before sleep, after hard news, or in some other moment? [30:34]
6. Life throws curveballs: job loss, heartbreak, illness, family strain, or grief. Looking back, where has God already shown his faithfulness in a hard season, even if the situation itself did not change quickly? [28:11]
7. Trust is not denial of danger; it is placing life in better hands. What would trusting God with everything look like in one specific situation this week? [29:12]