Psalm 57 - A Steadfast Prayer

INTRODUCTION:

Context:

Our psalm this week is very similar to the one we looked at last week. In fact, it begins with the exact same words even, “Be gracious to me, O God.” David is attributed writer of this psalm and he is once more crying out to God because of the difficult circumstances God has allowed into his life.

If you recall from last week, David wrote Psalm 56 when he was forced to flee from King Saul for his life. According to the superscription—that is, the preserved history of this psalm—David wrote this psalm during the same period. Originally, when David fled from Saul he tried to hide out in the land of the Philistines. As last week’s psalm demonstrated, that didn’t work, so 1 Samuel records that he returned to the land of Israel and began hiding out in remote wilderness areas. The superscription for our psalm tells us that David wrote this psalm when he was hiding from Saul in a cave. There are a couple of possibilities during this period of David’s life when he was hiding in caves as Saul sought his life. In 1 Sam 22 he hid in a cave at Adullam and in 1 Sam 24 he hid in a cave in the Engedi region. In either case, these were difficult days for David. The king was seeking his life and he had mobilized the armies of Israel in the attempt. David had great reasons to fear.

Preview:

Last week, we saw that it was against the backdrop of great fear that faith in God is able to shine brightest. As the situations that generate fear continue, though, they also give opportunity for our steadfastness of faith to be tested and displayed. In our psalm this morning we have a steadfast prayer and from that prayer we learn that Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God.

This really is a necessary lesson for us. I believe that often we miss learning this lesson because we are all too anxious for the circumstances that cause our fears to pass quickly. What we can learn from David this morning is how to accept ongoing hardships and fears with a steadfast faith, a faith that seeks the glory of God instead of a relief from difficulties.

Transition from introduction to body:

Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God. Our psalm naturally breaks into two sections as verses 5 and 11 give a repeated refrain to the prayer-song that David composed….and what a refrain it is as it sings out the main lesson of this psalm, Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God.

In the first stanza of this poem the idea that David conveys is that…

BODY:

I. Steadfast faith comes from knowing our God

We must truly and deeply know our God in order to have steadfast faith in Him. Let’s read the first stanza of our psalm, verses 1–5…<read Ps 57:1–5>.

Transition:

In the verses that we just read, there are at least three things about God that work to produce steadfast faith by knowing them. First of all, steadfast faith comes from…

A. Knowing our relationship with our God.

This idea comes from the picture David uses of God spreading wings over David, granting David protection from the situations threatening him.

Illustration

For the past few weeks, we have had turkeys wondering around our neighborhood, a mother with three young turkeys. Now, I think these young turkeys are probably too old to classify as poults, which is the name for young turkeys under 4 weeks old, but they are definitely still hanging with mom. We have seen this group of four a few times around our yard. In fact, last week when we came home from church the mother turkey was standing on our porch pillar and the other three were wondering around the front sidewalk and step of our house.

A couple of weeks ago we saw these turkeys come through our backyard on one of the rainy days. The mother turkey flew up and perched herself on our chain-link fence. Pretty soon the young turkeys also flew up and perched on the fence. Pretty soon it began to rain and two of the young ones moved over so that they were right up against the mother and she immediately stretched out her wings and gave them shelter from the rain. Mom didn’t have enough wing to go around so the third one simply sat on the fence a few feet away looking miserable.

That is the picture, though, that David gives us here in verse 1 but it is a picture that is directly tied to God’s special relationship to David as a member of Israel. The picture of shadowing with God’s wings is drawn from Deut 32:11. There the picture is of an eagle who will carry its young as it flies them to safety. The Lord is pictured as like the eagle because He had delivered Israel from their bondage in Egypt and had rescued them as His covenant people. Now, David is reminding himself that God has committed Himself to David’s preservation and he can ride out the circumstances of his trial, waiting for it to pass by because of his relationship with God.

Application

As we discussed last week, our relationship with God is different than David’s…after all, David had been promised by God that he would be the king of Israel…we don’t have that promise. But we do, most certainly have a relationship with God if we know His Son, Jesus Christ, as our own personal Savior. We have been adopted and are now the sons and daughters of God. And we have the promise that he will sustain us to the end. We may pass through the valley of the shadow of death, but the shadow of God’s wings over us will carry us through.

Transition:

Steadfast faith comes from first, knowing our relationship with God. Secondly, it comes by…

B. Knowing our access to our God

In verse 2 David calls out to God Most High. “Most High” signifies that the Lord is the One who rules over all that He has created, it emphasizes His sovereignty.

Illustration

I’m sure that we all know that you did not simply walk into the throne room of an ancient monarch. For that matter, you don’t simply walk in the Oval Office of our elected president. We here from time to time about people who try to jump the fence outside the White House and run inside. They don’t make it very far; the access to the president is highly restricted.

Certainly, God Most High is infinitely more significant than the president of the United States. And yet, David can cry out directly to him, knowing that God will not only hear him, but will respond to him. God will accomplish things for David! He will do this because God will, according to verse 3, reach out from heaven with “lovingkindness”—that is that Hebrew word hesed that points to God covenant loyalty—and with truth. God will have the last word in the situation.

Application

Folks, we live on the other side of the cross and the NT tells us that that means our access to God through our Savior Jesus Christ is even more direct. When we go to God in prayer, we are entering directly in to the throne room of the God Most High, granted ready access through the righteousness of our Savior. Such ready access should strengthen our faith, especially when we might feel all alone in our difficult circumstances of life. When we are feeling overwhelmed is exactly when we need to remember that our access is to God who will send forth “lovingkindness” and “truth” into our lives. What we are feeling now is not the last word; God will have the last word on the matter.

Transition:

Steadfast faith comes from knowing our access to our God. Thirdly, it also comes from…

C. Knowing the strength of our God

The one thing that we shouldn’t do is minimize the significance of what David is facing. His life was literally being sought by the most powerful man in the country and his armies. Look at verse 4. David feels like he is “among lions; … among those who breathe forth fire, … whose teeth are spears and arrows … whose tongue is a sharp sword.” These are poetic images intended to provoke terror. That is what David is facing.

And yet, the ability of David to praise God in verse 5 demonstrates that he knows that God is greater. God is the One exalted above the heavens, not his enemies. God is the One whose glory is above all the earth, even over that of his enemies. God is so much greater in strength than those seeking his life.

Application

Friends, I certainly do not want to minimize whatever situation you might be experiencing that is testing your faith. You may be facing great terror and adversity; hardships beyond what I can even imagine. What I do want to remind you of, though, is that whatever you are facing God is greater in strength than your circumstances. Even as our country appears to be spinning apart and a pandemic rages around us, God remains exalted above the heavens, His glory is above all the earth. We know His strength is greater than anything we face, regardless of what it is.

Transition:

Steadfast faith comes from knowing our access to our God. Steadfast faith comes from knowing our God: knowing our relationship with Him, our access to Him and His strength.

Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God. That is the overall lesson that David is teaching us this morning. Knowing our God causes us to seek His glory as it produces a steadfast faith in our lives amid trials and uncertainty. That is what David teaches us in the first stanza of this psalm.

Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God. In the second stanza David conveys that…

II. Steadfast faith comes from praising our God

What can we do when the world seems to be collapsing around us? We can praise our God. Let’s read the remainder of our psalm…<read Ps 57:6–11>.

Transition:

In these verses we again find at least three things about God for which we can praise Him and which by then doing will strengthen our faith. First steadfast faith comes from…

A. Praising the salvation of our God

Verse 6 is a surprising verse from a poetic perspective. Poetry likes balance, it likes parallelism. Look at the verse. The first line talks about the way the enemies desire to trap David. The third line balances that by again picturing David’s enemies as trying to trap him like an animal. The result of their efforts in the second line show that the strain of avoiding their efforts have nearly crushed David, “My soul is bowed down.” That is a natural result…oppression tends to crush us, doesn’t it? Now, the fourth line also looks at the result of the enemies plots, but instead of crushing David, surprisingly…completely contrary to all poetic expectation…the enemies are the one’s crushed; they are trapped by their own traps. What David is communicating here in a most masterful manner is that God will provide salvation from his enemies…David is confident of his salvation.

Now remember, from what we know about this psalm, David is hiding out in a cave when he wrote these words, but that cave does not stop him from praising the salvation God will bring. He begin in verse 8 praising God, imaging singing songs of praise for his salvation.

Application

Nor should any circumstance that we may be facing. This is not our ultimate reality; our salvation is! If we know Jesus as our Savior, then we will be saved from the worst that this life can throw at us—death leading to eternal damnation. Satan, God’s archenemy is throwing all kinds of circumstances at us in an attempt to crush us, trying to destroy us because we bear the image of God. But through Christ, God will save us. He provided the way for our salvation at the cross; His Son died for our sins. All we must do is trust in Him. Do you have that trust? Do you know Jesus as your Savior this morning? If not, please contact me so that I can tell you about Him. If you do, the join David in praising the salvation of our God!

Illustration

Do you ever find yourself so happy that you start singing without realizing it? Have you ever received such joyous news that you cannot up but walk away humming? I’m sure most of us have caught ourselves belting it out in the car when the windows are rolled up, singing out our joy. God has made us so that we love to sing when we are happy…even if we have horrible voices, which is why we do it with the windows rolled up. Well, let me tell you, our salvation is a reason to sing! Our salvation is a reason to praise God…a reason unaffected by circumstances.

Transition:

Steadfast faith comes from praising the salvation of our God. Steadfast faith also comes from…

B. Praising the fame of our God

In verse 9, it is not enough for David to sing praises about His God in the cave where he is hiding out. It isn’t even enough for him to think about the day when he could return safely to the central tabernacle and sing praises to God alongside the rest of the nation of Israel. David wanted the entire world to know about the greatness and wonder of God. He wanted to sing “among the peoples…among the nations.” In other words, he wanted the whole world to know the fame of His God.

Application

Let me ask you this morning, do you share this desire? Do you want the whole world to know about the fame of your God? I guarantee that if you are so excited about your God that you want to praise Him before the world; that you want to share Him with the world, that then you will also discover that your faith is steadfast. Our faith is strengthened when we share the fame of our God with others because doing that constantly reminds us about Him as well.

Again, let me ask you, do you have that desire, the desire to share God with the world? If you say that you do, what are you doing to make it happen? Are you giving financially to our church to the point that it hurts, that it limits your ability to spend money on yourself, because you want to see your money used to take the fame of your God around the world? Are you giving of your time to see that the fame of God is spreading around the world? Granted, travel is not really possible now, but it will be again at some point, I suspect…have you considered going personally on a short-term mission trip to see how our missionaries are spreading the fame of our God and helping them for a couple of weeks in their efforts in some other part of the world. Even more directly, though, are you praising the fame of your God by telling your neighbor about Him; telling your friend about Him? Your God conquered sin and death—the ultimate penalty for sin—by sending His own Son do die in your place. That is a story worth sharing…and sharing it again and again will create a steadfast faith in your life.

Transition:

Steadfast faith comes from praising the fame of our God. And lastly, steadfast faith comes from

C. Praising the faithfulness of our God

In verse 10, David once more reflects on the lovingkindness—the hesed—of God as well as His truth. He marvels at the vastness of God’s lovingkindness…no matter how much we might mess up, no matter how deep the jam we get ourselves into, no matter how dire our situation becomes…God’s lovingkindness will never waver for His children. God’s lovingkindness will move God to do that which will ultimately be in the best interest of His children, that which will cause them to mature in their Christian faith. God has promised that He will do so and His word is truth…absolute truth that governs this world, whether this world recognizes it or not.

In fact, it is because God is this way, that David wants to sing to the world about God. It is because God is a God of lovingkindness and truth that David is moved to once more call for God’s exaltation on the final verse—may God be exalted above the heavens, may His glory be above all the earth.

Application

Friends, how much time have you spent contemplating the faithfulness of our God? Have you spent time thinking about His lovingkindness and His truth? Have you spent time praising Him in prayer for these attributes of His nature? Have you found yourself lost in wonder at His faithfulness? I assure you, that if spend time praising the faithfulness of our God, you will discover that your faith is progressively transformed into a steadfast faith.

Transition from body to conclusion:

Steadfast faith comes from praising the faithfulness of our God. Steadfast faith comes from praising our God: praising the salvation of our God, the fame of our God and the faithfulness of our God. Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God.

CONCLUSION

Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God. That is the ultimate goal of a steadfast faith. This morning we have seen that a steadfast faith comes from knowing our God and from praising our God.

Remember, David circumstances have not changed; he is still hiding in a cave at the end of this psalm. But his heart is filled with praise for His God and His mouth is filled with praises as his lips sing songs of praise to His God.

Application

In a similar fashion, your circumstances have not changed by listening to this sermon this morning. Whatever trials and distresses and difficulties you were facing before the sermon are still there; they remain part of your life. But like David, I trust that your heart has been filled with knowledge and praise for your God as a result of looking at this psalm. For that reason, instead of closing in prayer this morning, I am going to give you an opportunity to let that praise pour from your lips. I am going to ask Gerry and Mark to come and we are going to sing one of two verses from half a dozen hymns this morning. The words of these hymns will reinforce our knowledge of our God and as we sing them we can follow David’s example of praising our God. I trust that as you do so you will be seeking the glory of God and that as you leave today, you will continue to seek His glory.

Steadfast faith seeks the glory of God.