Psalm 57 (NKJV)
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David When He Fled from Saul into the Cave.
1 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.
We’re so grateful for all of our veterans who have served our country! I hope this psalm (song) will encourage you like it encouraged me this week.
Let me give you a little insight about the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms is a collection of songs by various authors including David, Solomon, Asaph, etc. These were sung by the Israeli people on various occasions. There are 8 various kinds of psalms (31), psalms of praise (Ps. 146), songs, maskil (could refer to wisdom, 12 of them), prayer psalms (songs of requests to God, 4), shiggaion psalms (wild, passionate, 2), psalms of ascent and Miktams (only 6 of them).
I want you to notice the pericope in this Psalm. A pericope is that title under the psalm number. The word Miktam is an interesting word. Some translate the word “golden”, i.e., precious. In the LXX, it is a word meaning “tablet inscription” or a “stelograph.” The root word means to stamp or engrave. It describes a composition so precious that it should be engraved on something durable to preserve it. Others render, “a psalm precious as stamped gold.” This psalm is a song that is as valuable as gold.
Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. NY: Harper & Brothers.
How many of you have heard of an artist receiving a Gold Record? A Gold record is a single or album that sells 500,000 units (records, tapes, or compact discs). The Gold Record award was started in 1958. Originally, the requirement for a Gold single was one million units sold and a Gold album represented $1 million in sales (at wholesale value, around a third of the list price). In 1975, the additional requirement of 500,000 units sold was added for Gold albums.
If David had been around in 1958, he certainly would have been awarded a Gold Record for Psalm 57. Notice also that Ps. 57 is one of 4 psalms (57-59 & 75) that have the designation “Al-taschith” which means destroy not! This is a valuable song!
This is a difficult day for a lot of us! 2020 has been a difficult year for the whole world because of the corona virus. Conservatives are wondering what the country is going to be like if leftists are in charge of the country. Will we ever get a vaccine? What if the next virus is even worse?
This week, honestly, I’ve been in a dark place. Why? Because the reality of open-heart surgery is staring me in the face next Friday. This could be my last sermon! Patsy and I have had some tough conversations lately about it, about death, about the church, about the future.
But could I tell you something: this could be your last time in church too! This could be the last message you hear from God’s Word. This could be your last time in a church.
You say, “But pastor, I’m not facing open heart surgery.” Maybe not, but you DO realize that all of us are just one heartbeat away from eternity!
If you’re going to make it in life’s tough circumstances, and sing a golden psalm in a gloomy place, you must be a person who is:
1. UNWORTHY OF HIS FORGIVENESS v. 1
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
Notice in v. 1 that David asks twice for God to be merciful to him. David saw himself as a man who was unworthy and desperately needed forgiveness in his life. All of us are unworthy and all of us need God’s mercy and forgiveness. We’ve broken God’s Law and deserve the death penalty. Cry out to the Lord today, “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!”
So, if you’re going to be able to sing a golden psalm in a gloomy place, you must realize that you are unworthy of forgiveness, but you must also be:
2. UNWAVERING IN HIS FAITH v. 1
1 For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
People try a lot of things to deal with the pain, depression, and difficult circumstances. Some try to escape it through drugs, alcohol, pleasure, etc…anything the world has to offer is temporary.
ILLUST. My cousin, Ken Hibbard, called me! He found out that I was having surgery next week. Could I tell you about Ken? He was a helicopter pilot during the Viet Nam war. After the war, he went to school to become a pharmacist. He had a pharmacy in Cushing, OK. One night he was shot in his pharmacy by some criminal looking for drugs and money. All of us, Russ, Mitch, Curt, Larry, and I looked up to Ken.
He asked me about the surgery and told me that he had gone through of those where they have to cut your sternum. He told me what to expect. And he tried to encourage me!
I have appreciated your comments and your expressions of love, prayer, and encouragement. But the truth is: sometimes you have to face some difficulties alone and the ONLY One who can be there with you is the ONLY One you need and that’s Jesus! It’s in the “shadow of His wings” where I will find a “refuge.” Trust Him and He will take care of you, no matter what you face.
If you’re going to sing a golden song in a gloomy place you must realize that you’re UNWORTHY of FORGIVENESS, you must be UNWAVERING in your FAITH, and you must be:
3. UNMOVED BY HIS FOES v. 4-6
Remember, at this time David is on the run from King Saul who is trying to kill him. The king is David’s enemy! We learn from 1 Samuel 22 that David has escaped to a cave:
1 Samuel 22:1 (NKJV) David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.
So, David is here in the cave of Adullam with his brothers and some other men…I’ll say more about them in a minute. But I want you to notice that Saul is furious:
1 Samuel 22:9 (NKJV) Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” 11 So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. 12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13 Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?” 14 So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? 15 Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.” 16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!” 17 Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the LORD. 18 And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword.
David was in a dark place! Not only is David running for his life from Saul, but anybody who would help David is at risk! Saul couldn’t get his own guards to kill the priests, so Doeg the Edomite killed 85 men! Saul, at this time, had disobeyed the Lord and was so threatened by David that he wanted him dead! Can you imagine someone becoming that angry?
By the way, do you know WHY King Saul was so angry? Because of a song! And it wasn’t even a song that David wrote. Do you remember that David was the one who killed the giant, Goliath? Well, they had a parade to celebrate this great victory for the Israeli army and the people of Israel. During the parade, some women sang a song as they were celebrating and here are the words:
1 Samuel 18:7b (NKJV) “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.”
1 Samuel 18:8 (NKJV) Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?”
The very next day as David was playing music for the king, Saul took a spear and tried to kill David with it. It’s a gloomy place for a guy to be when the boss wants you dead! David was discouraged, disheartened and desperate!
But let me back up a minute and call your attention to the first verses of 1 Samuel 22. Notice the people that David has around him: his brothers are there! It’s nice to have family around when you’re facing a crisis, right? Sometimes, not so much! Sometimes your family is not a lot of help during a crisis. There are some people who mean well, but…
ILLUST. Henry, Doris & Sid. Doris says, ‘Well, at least you can thank God for pain killers.” Henry says, “Well, that’s not a whole lot of consolation there, Doris. Sid, could get hooked on drugs and end up in a drug rehabilitation hospital!”
Notice also there is everyone who was distressed, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented. Boy, I bet that was a fun crowd to be around, right? Can you imagine what it would be like to be at that campfire in the cave? Notice how David describes his gloomy place:
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.
Spurgeon wrote, “He was a very Daniel. Howled at, hunted, wounded, but not slain. His place was in itself one of extreme peril, and yet faith made him feel himself secure, so that he could lie down. The cave may have reminded him of a lion’s den, and Saul and his band shouting and yelling in their disappointment at missing him, were the lions; yet beneath the divine shelter he felt himself safe.”
I just finished an audio book about the life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The biographer wrote that Spurgeon, the great prince of preachers battled depression himself. He could say, “Prayer is doubt’s destroyer, ruin’s remedy, the antidote to all anxieties,” while in another, he could articulate the struggle of so many today by saying, “I am sometimes lifted to the very heavens, and then I go down to the deep: I am at one time bright with joy and confidence and at another time dark as midnight with doubts and fears.”
Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The treasury of David: Psalms 27-57 (Vol. 2, p. 476). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.
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
Even though his enemies are plotting against Him, David sing, “God, I want you to be exalted! Let Your glory be above everything! My enemies have a net and are trying to trap me, I’m down and depressed, they’ve dug a pit for me, but they themselves have fallen in it!”
In order to sing a golden psalm in a gloomy place you must realize you are UNWORTHY of FORGIVENESS, you must be UNWAVERING in your FAITH, and UNMOVED by your FOES, and you must be:
4. UNSWERVING IN HIS FORTITUDE v. 7
7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
The KJV says, “My heart is fixed.” That’s what I’m hoping will happen next Friday, that my heart will get fixed, but that’s not what this verse means. It means that David is resolute, unswerving, he’s loyal to God and constant! Look, David’s enemy is the king. His brothers are with him, but sometimes family is no help. The rest of his army is a bunch of losers…the word discontented 1 Samuel 22:2 means they are “bitter of soul.”
In spite of all of that, David was a man of fortitude, courage, determination, and strength! David knew that God keeps His promises. God had delivered him from a lion! God had delivered from a bear. God had delivered him from a giant! And David had the fortitude that God would deliver him from Saul as well!
In order to sing a golden psalm in a gloomy place you must realize you are UNWORTHY of FORGIVENESS, you must be UNWAVERING in your FAITH, and UNMOVED by your FOES, you must be UNSWERVING in FORTITUDE and, finally, David was:
5. UNENDING IN HIS PRAISE v. 7b-11
Now remember, this is a song that David is singing to the Lord. In spite of the gloomy place he is singing a golden song! Look at his words:
7b 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.
I watched a documentary called “The Last Ridge: The 10th Mountain Division” and their role in breaking through the German in the mountains of Italy and leading the Allies to victory in Europe. The division was made up of skiers, mountain and rock climbers and outdoorsmen. Some of them had trained for 4 years before they were ever put into the theater of war.
These men went through the toughest school in all the military (or so the film claimed). The winter session of the Army Mountain Warfare School which contained unbelievable trials both physical and emotional! But the event with the highest dropout rate was a multi-day hike up a snow packed mountain. It required traversing the whole mountain, from bottom to top, through over ten feet of snow drifts with a large 90 lb. ruck sack on their backs and no special equipment. They had their feet and sheer determination.
On the morning of the infamous march, a drill instructor spoke to the soldiers. I expected it to be something bombastic and bluster! Instead, the wise soldier said, “If you want to quit, look at the top of the mountain. But if you want to make it through, then just find the closest tree and tell yourself, ‘I’m going to make it to that next tree and then reevaluate.’ And then when you get to that tree, do the same thing again, find the next closest tree. If you’ll do that, tree by tree, soon you’ll find yourself at the top of the mountain.”
You may be facing some terrible suffering! There may be some kind of large, looming mountain that is in your way, and seems impossible for you to climb! When you find yourself staring at a mountain, just look for the next tree!
At the lowest times of his life, David knew to cry out to God! He knew to praise God unendingly even though he was running for his life! That’s what we need to do, folks! Sing in the shadows! Praise when you’re in the pits! Flee to the next tree!
A man named Chuck Lawrence wrote these lyrics:
With tears in His eyes, God looked down through time
Saw Him spat upon, rejected, and mocked
Still He grew the tree, He knew would be
Used to make the old, rugged cross.
Lord, you alone can help me! I give You unending praise for Who You are and what you’ve done for me.
