To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.
“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.
I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. 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.
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. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.
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
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.”
“A Michtam of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.” David is on the run again. The story is told in 1 Samuel 22:1-2 “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. 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.” Notice something: David enters the cave alone, but before it is over, 400 men join him.
“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.” David is desperate for shelter and protection. The image here is of a mother bird sheltering her fledglings under her wings to protect them from marauders. All the fledglings must do is to remain silent and trust their protector.
“I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. 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.” God is the One who can truly settle all scores. Our knowledge is imperfect and we might jump to wrong conclusions; however, God knows the hearts and intents of the evil ones and He can intervene, sending the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts and minds.
“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. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.” What can you do if you find yourself trapped amid a pride of lions? STAY STILL! If you move, you might become a lion hors d’ouvre. Only God can save you from danger.
“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” Proverbs 26:27 warns “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.” While we might not know of all the traps our enemies are setting, God sees all, knows all, and can deal with all.
“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.” When God delivers us, we should be so grateful that our shouts of praise would practically make the sun rise.
APPLICATION: Make no mistake, the dangers David is describing in this psalm are very real. David has spent long years running from King Saul. Just after David leaves the Cave of Adullam where he has been hiding, he sends his parents to stay with the king of Moab to prevent them from being taken hostage or even being killed. It’s truly tragic that David has to turn to a foreign king for help because the king of Israel is a madman; on the other hand, God is allowing David to forge alliances that will be very helpful in the future. Sending one’s family to someone for protection implies an enormous degree of trust in that person.
One of the laws of the Kingdom of God is that the measure you give out is the measure you will receive. Try being crafty and you might be hoist with your own petard. (The meaning of hoist on(or with or by) one’s own petard is to be harmed or defeated by one’s own plan or device that was meant to hurt someone else. The phrase comes from a speech in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, where a petard was a small bomb used to blow up gates or walls. The phrase implies an ironic reversal or poetic justice.) Eventually, King Saul’s craftiness becomes his undoing.
Once more, David has penned a psalm for all of us under relentless pressure. Even when we have no words of our own, we can borrow those of David. If you are familiar with David’s story, you know that eventually things worked out for him; God is still a Redeemer and He can redeem things for us as well.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to trust when we cannot see and to continue to look for Your redemption. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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