My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 57:1-3
1 To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
This psalm is in the same general history of David’s life as our previous one, though instead describing his appearance before king Achish of Philistia and acting insane to escape being held by the Philistines, he is speaking of his flight from Saul being hot on his trail.
As the psalm begins, we find him in a cave, hiding from Saul. The future king of Israel had nothing to lay his head upon, no comforts or bounty. He was in survival mode, and I imagine the conditions were as rough as they will ever be for this man of God, running from the earthly powers chasing him.
As his first cry out to God, he is seeking mercy from the Lord. He has not abandoned the promise of God, in that he knows this “storm of destruction” will pass. He is actively requesting mercy, and yet he is resting in the promise God has provided.
This is amazing, for as a young believer, I often looked down on those who struggled with life conditions, and yet they claimed to know the Lord of glory. I confess my silliness as a youth, for I have come to realize that this condition, that is of having the peace of God in combination with a heart requesting mercy, is not an uncommon state for the believer.
As a matter of fact, it is the heart of living a life of faith.
When difficulties, even persecutions are upon you, crushing you, it is the heart of the believer to reach out to our Father, asking Him for protection, relief, direction, wisdom, – any type of mercy that He may provide.
For David, he is looking for refuge in the Lord, and as we have considered this topic in an earlier post (Psalms for Psome – Ps 43.01), his desire to take refuge reinforces the reality of this ever present danger in his life.
He finds true refuge in the Lord, and not in the cave, or in his ability (so far) to escape from his enemies. His refuge is in the One he cannot see, but that he knows.
He knows God has a purpose for him and the nation of Israel. He knows that eventually God will send from heaven the salvation he so desperately needs, for this condition cannot remain if his purpose is to be fulfilled.
David again refers to his enemies trampling on him, and as we saw in our last Psalm, this term speaks of his enemies panting in the chase, expending all their energy in the chase. The enemies were real and determined to get David, to put him to rest, to get him out of the equation. David must die!
Two wills are being described in these verses, that of God’s will and man’s will. God’s will is to rescue David, but man has determined to kill him.
Thankfully, David was rescued, delivered to reign as the second king of Israel, becoming one of the greatest men in the Old Testament and expanding the kingdom to it’s largest borders! He had a destiny and God brought him through the storm.
His Son, the greater David, experienced the same conflict, that of rescue or death. He entered into death without the rescue David experienced. To all appearances, man’s will succeeded in getting Him out of the way.
How must Jesus have had such greater faith in going through death to get His and our deliverance?
David finishes this short passage with the phrase
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
How can we not see that God has sent out His steadfast love and faithfulness for us?
His name is Jesus.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.
Considering the Bible 