Psalm 57

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by.

² I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.
³ He shall send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah
God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

⁴ My soul is among lions;
I lie among the sons of men
Who are set on fire,
Whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.
⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

⁶ They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They have dug a pit before me;
Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah

⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise.
⁸ Awake, my glory!
Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.

⁹ I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
¹⁰ For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,
And Your truth unto the clouds.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge

There have been weeks when absolutely nothing went my way. Someone will be angry with me, I’ll have ten things all due at the same time, I’ll forget my lunch, maybe lose my umbrella and there happens to be a downpour, and to top it all off, I’ll spill my drink on myself right before I have to go teach. Okay, so maybe all those things haven’t happened at the exact same time for me, but you know what I’m talking about. Whatever you’re going through, odds are it isn’t nearly as bad as having lions and men on fire with pointy teeth who put out nets and dig pits for you. If God is a good enough refuge for all that, He’s plenty good enough for my little inconveniences. But, notice that it’s not God who comes down offering the refuge in this psalm. The psalmist seeks it out. Sure, he could go out there and face his problems head on. We’ve seen lots of other psalms about riding out into battle and being victorious over enemies, but this time, we’re just going to wait them out.

To God who performs all things for me

And when we go seek out God for shelter until the calamities pass by us, we are giving ourselves completely to God’s care. Sometimes it feels like giving up or giving in when we don’t fight our problems ourselves. Part of trusting in God, however, requires that we let God have control of our lives. We don’t always just go for our gut reactions and instead take our issues to God who can take care of it all on His own.

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast

I like how he says it twice; I can almost imagine the mix of desperation and resolve as he calls on God to help him with everything. He’s not giving in to the snares of his enemies. He’s reinforcing his heart against their attacks. He’s standing firm under the shadow of God’s wings. God doesn’t ask much of us when we need His help. We only must be steadfast and go to God who will perform all things for us while we pass through our post calamitous problems with Him watching over us.