Psalm 11—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Chase Hoffman

About the Artist • About the Piece

I was born and raised here in Colorado. I was briefly an engineer before switching careers to photography. I’ve been doing photography professionally for 16 years across several specialties like portraiture, sports, wildlife, landscape, and real estate. My wife and I have been attending Park Church for 11 years. I’m also a father of two energetic boys, Clark and Devin.

The first sentence of Psalm 11 “In the Lord, I take refuge” is the focus of my piece. David is told to “flee like a bird to your mountain” so I chose to embody David as this red-winged blackbird. The wicked in this psalm are intent on violence toward David yet The Lord is his refuge. A refuge isn’t merely a place away from danger, but a place where one can be calm and be assured of salvation. Just like how this bush shelters this bird from predators and the elements, God shelters David and he shelters us.

There is no need to flee, but to remain with God. The artistic process of exploring theological concepts in photography is like a real-world scavenger’s hunt for God’s goodness. Obviously I “make” my art, but unlike other art forms it’s only through real moments that happen around me. That requires a mental shift and stillness to help me find those fleeting moments and then actually capture them. When I found this bird, I was able to sit down on the ground and take my time dialing in my camera’s settings. The two of us actually stayed put together for several minutes. It was clearly aware of me (probably ten feet away), but didn’t feel the need to flee. I was the one that left first after getting more than enough images.