Assurance of God’s Eternal Protection
To the Chief Musician. On a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.
“Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah
For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. You will prolong the king’s life, his years as many generations.
He shall abide before God forever.
Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him! So I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.”
“Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah”
Rocks! People have been hiding in rocks and caves as long as humans have existed. Rocks are strong, solid, and can protect us in ways that no man-made structure can. David is fully aware of all this. While Israel once had forests, the rocks are even more abundant. Many of those rocks mark boundaries or sites of famous battles. During the long years when David was fleeing from Saul, he and his men took full advantage of those rocks and caves as they dodged Saul’s armies and escaped to fight somewhere else.
“…when my heart is overwhelmed…” We read the Bible knowing everything that will eventually happen, that David will become a highly successful and popular king and that his reign will be glorious. But at the time David is writing this psalm, he is a fugitive, continually seeking new hiding places and wondering how he will care for his troops. We know that when David fled to the Cave of Adullam, 400 men joined him; however, we don’t know how many people are now with David at the time of this psalm. Little wonder then, if David feels overwhelmed.
“I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.” What could be better than an absolutely safe place, a place where one might stay forever? Here David is comparing God to a mother bird sheltering her fledglings under her wings, protecting them with her own body. But mother birds can be killed while God abides forever. When we find God’s protection, we can be at complete rest for He is faithful and true.
“For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. You will prolong the king’s life, his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever.” Nothing is better than the eternal heritage that God alone can give. Abiding before God means that we routinely seek His presence, worshiping Him, calling on His Name and rejoicing in His Word. You might think that this is impossible; however, you are actually doing all those things right now. You are reading this psalm and meditating on it, something far more important than any number of wild gyrations to worship music.
It is highly significant that the promise implied in these verses has been fulfilled. Jerusalem is still referred to as “the city of David.” The Messiah is referred to as “the Son of David.” Even though David died thousands of years ago, God has preserved his memory and has honored his faithfulness.
“Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him! So I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.” David began life as a shepherd and he knows sheep must be fed and watered daily. In the same way, David continues to praise God daily so that he will have the courage, the stamina, and the endurance to perform his vows to God.
APPLICATION: We all make promises; however, keeping those promises can become quite tedious. The late Eugene Peterson wrote an excellent book about the pilgrim psalms entitled A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Daily obedience, daily consistency, these are the things that help us continue to perform our vows to God regularly. Anybody can make promises in the heat of the moment, but fulfilling those promises daily is a whole different matter.
While growing up on a Midwestern farm, I learned the value of daily consistency and obedience. Ours was an “Old McDonald” type of farm with beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep. That livestock needed to be fed and watered twice a day, and without pipe-borne water, we had to either pump water into water tanks using a small electric pump and haul them out to the hogs in the field or carry water in buckets. Although the beef cattle were allowed to graze, we still had to supplement with ground feed we carried and poured into feed bunks-long narrow flat troughs from which the cattle could eat. (A full 5-gallon bucket weighs 25 pounds; I used to carry one in each hand down the center of the feed bunk.) We also chopped green corn for silage, storing it in a pit silo; few things are less attractive than having to chop frozen silage out of a pit silo on a frosty winter morning with the wind whipping over the prairie. You know it’s really cold when the condensation from your breath forms frost on the muffler you have tied around your neck.
The one thing all these experiences taught me was to be dutiful. Dictionaries tell us that: Dutiful means performing the duties expected or required of one, and characterized by doing one’s duty. It can also mean required by duty or proceeding from or expressive of a sense of duty. A dutiful person is obedient and respectful. Thousands of patients over the years have reason to be grateful for those chores that taught me to be dutiful as a child. But our attention to duty, no matter how strong, pales by comparison with God’s.
In this psalm David is avowing that God will protect him better than any rocky fortress. At the same time, David is hoping he is right. When we are stressed out, it’s difficult to trust God; however, we can still hope that He is there and that He remains rock-solid, dependable, and everlasting. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, “Casting all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” So many times we come to God clutching our worries tightly to us, hoping that God is really there and that He does care. But we are just as likely to finish praying and then walk away, still clutching those worries. What has saved David during all his trials is that David calls on the Lord and then hands his worries over to the Lord, leaving David free to move forward. Today, why not cast ALL your cares on God? Tell Him your hopes, your dreams, and your fears. And then watch and see what God can do. David was right; God really is the rock of our salvation!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. Help us to trust You with those worries and fears, knowing that You can handle them far better than we can. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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