In the midst of the uncertainties of life that seem so present right now, we have a certain God. In our new three-week live streaming series, Steadfast, we will be reflecting on the certainty we have in the Lord. Join us as Pastor Tim shares a message of encouragement from Psalm 57:1-3.
Please join us live next week on Monday at 7 pm. You can find out how here.
The following study questions and transcript are AI generated and may contain errors.
The following study questions and transcript are AI generated and may contain errors.
Well, good evening and welcome to our live stream of Steadfast. It’s going to be a three-week series in which we are going to engage in digging into God’s Word for encouragement. I know this last week has probably felt uncertain to most of us. It feels like so much is going on that’s just weird, we’re not used to it, we’re not used to watching our whole nation, our whole world feel shut down and we wonder what’s going on. And so we’re going to dig into God’s Word for encouragement.
I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet. My name is Tim Butler. I’m the pastor at Little Hills Church and we are so glad to have you here with us tonight. We’re going to dig into Psalm 57. As I said, if you have a Bible or a Bible app, feel free to tune in or to turn to that and to dig in with me, and we’re going to go on this little adventure together.
Why don’t you go ahead and pray for us as we begin tonight.
Father, thank you for your goodness and your mercy. Lord, we pray for our community, we pray for each person that’s tuned in tonight, we pray for those serving our community as emergency workers and doctors and nurses and all those providing essential services. We pray for our world, that you would provide peace, that you provide healing. Lord, would you be with us tonight and as we dig into your Word, would you give us peace through it. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, as I said, we were digging into Psalm 57, so to get started tonight, let’s go ahead and read Psalm 57. Just the first three verses tonight—we’ll be looking at the rest over the next several Monday evenings.
It says in verse one: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge. In the shadows of your wings I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me; he will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness.”
What’s really remarkable about those words is the context in which they are written. We see that in the little title that comes before some of the Psalms—we find one here—and in it we see that it is written by King David when he fled from Saul in the cave. So David flees to a cave for shelter, trying to escape Saul.
King Saul, if you’re not familiar with Old Testament history, was the first king of Israel, and he did not do what was pleasing before God, and he wasn’t the sort of king that God intended for his people long term. He wanted a king who truly pointed people to God himself. And so he anointed David to be that king, but during the transitionary period, even though God was in control, David had to flee from Saul who saw him as a threat.
So here we find David taking refuge in a cave, seeking to escape from Saul, and surely feeling like everything was uncertain. He hadn’t sought what he was doing; he hadn’t intended to be anywhere like where he was, and yet here he was, and now life seemed like it was just going crazy. I think we can understand that. We can understand what David would have felt, because we feel that right now. Certain times make us feel fearful—we don’t know what’s going on—and yet here’s what we do know. And that’s what this psalm reminds us of: that God is in control, that God is predictable, that we actually know who he is because he’s faithful, and that God loves us.
And the first part of that that we see at the very beginning of this psalm is that we can come to God for help. David knows that. And by writing this psalm, the Holy Spirit was inspiring him to remind us that we can do that in uncertain times as well. Here’s what he says once again in verse 1: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by.”
He’s in the midst of all this uncertainty, yet he knows that he can take refuge in those wings; he says, the wings of God, to be wrapped up in the protection of God. And the fact that he did or didn’t anticipate this moment doesn’t make a difference. The fact that we do know that things are happening, but we didn’t a few weeks ago when we started in 2020—we didn’t expect to be where we are now—doesn’t change the fact that we can take refuge in God.
We’re not far from the summer, and in the summer I love to go swimming. And maybe if you love to go swimming as well, you’ve had this experience: you go and you’re looking forward all day to going swimming, you go into the pool, and just as you do, you think, there’s a little gray cloud off to the distance, it surely can’t be anything. But then you hear the rumble of thunder, and you think, oh yeah, it is something. And it completely throws off the plan.
David actually uses the picture of storms. He wasn’t just trying to go swimming; he was trying to fight for his life. That’s a picture that’s so apt, because how often is it that we find that we don’t anticipate the storms that we face? What does David do in that moment? What does this psalm call us to do in our moment?
He’s in a cave; David has protection, it would seem. This would be a good place to hide and go find a little nook and cranny, but David knows that isn’t the true kind of protection that he needs; instead he turns to God.
I think that’s something that I sometimes struggle with; I think a lot of us do—that we know we should turn to God, and yet we start seeking out different forms of protection. There’s nothing wrong with being prepared—it’s good that David was seeking to physically find a place of shelter—and yet he knows, even though he’s found that, what’s really important is that he seeks refuge in his God, who is faithful and who loves him.
David’s cave isn’t the true refuge, and neither are any of our practical protections that we can deal with in this current situation or any situation in life. We find too often that those ultimately fall short. It’s all too apparent as we’re dealing with a disease that there isn’t yet a known treatment for. We have all this medicine, all this technology, and yet you see people, no matter whether they’re rich or poor, facing the same uncertainty. We don’t know what to do, but we can turn to God, who is faithful.
And we see that continuing message in verse 2. Notice what we find there; let’s look again in God’s word. It says, “I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. To God who fulfills his purpose for me.”
You see, the problem with all of our protections is we have an intended purpose, but we don’t know if it will be fulfilled. Too often the things we try to do go wrong. But David says, but God’s protection, God’s purpose, will be fulfilled. He loves David. David knows that. He knows you and me—we’re told that in scripture. And so we know, as we turn to him, his purposes will be fulfilled.
We’re told that his protection will last until after the storm has passed. How wonderful is that? Because you know, here’s another problem we run into in life, and that’s that whether this current storm passes quickly or it takes a very long time, we know there’s always another storm. And then we have to start all over and be ingenious again, and come up with some kind of solution, figure out a way to protect ourselves. And yet, when we turn to God, what are we told? That his purposes will be fulfilled, that his refuge is safe.
And another thing that’s really crucial here, and this is what is so important that David recognizes and that we’re called to recognize as well, is that so often our own attempts end up trapping us. If David put all of his hope in finding a great hiding place, imagine if Saul found out where it was. And he comes, and he blocks it off.
That’s happened many times over history where someone thought they were safe, they thought they had the perfect hideout, the perfect refuge, and yet their enemies find them. And then it’s not so perfect at all.
It really comes down to having the proper priorities, and that’s what we find in Matthew 10, verse 28. And Jesus reminds us of what we really should focus our attention. Look at what he says here: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
What is he saying there? The one that’s in control, the one that we should be worried about, are the things—it’s not some virus, not some people, not some opportunities that we’re afraid we’re going to lose at work or at school or anywhere else. One that we should have reverence towards, the one that we really should be concerned about is God, because he’s the one in control, not only of our body but our soul.
What does David do? He asks God for mercy. Notice that’s how it starts, Psalm 57—”Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.” This isn’t about earning refuge; he’s not trying to prove to God, “I’m worthy of refuge, you should protect me, you should care about me.” He doesn’t need to. God has told him that he loves him. God has told you in his word that he loves you.
It’s God’s grace, and that’s what’s recognized in this psalm. It’s about God’s mercy, his care for us, simply because he has declared himself our Heavenly Father.
But we might say, well, if God is worth fearing, and that’s what Jesus says, can we really trust to take refuge in him? Are we just trading one fear for another? And emphatically we can say no, because we can rest in the promises of God, and that’s what we find in verse three.
What does David go on to say? He says, “He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame him who tramples on me, God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness.”
God is steadfast; he is constant in the things that he promises to do. We can rest in his promises. That’s what we’re called to remember. He promises not only that he is the one who is in charge, the one who can provide refuge, but his promises, his love that he has told us that he has for us, is true and good.
Notice here the way that David describes this. He says that he will send from heaven to save me. He starts talking about heavenly salvation, the true salvation that we find in Jesus alone. And then he goes on to say, he will put to shame him who tramples on me. But then he turns right back: God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
Yes, David knows that God is the one who provides us with any rescue from physical harm, from the fears that we have on earth. And yet far more important than that is that he offers a true and eternal love, that whatever happens in the next few days, the next few weeks, the rest of our lifetimes, what we know is that the God that we can turn to and who promises his love for us offers us an eternal salvation, an eternal love.
So we see both the practical in-the-moment kind of thing that we really want, we see something far more practical than our heads often wrap our minds around, which is that something that goes on forever.
What do we do? What do we do in a moment like right now? Well, imagine if you were on a ship in the middle of a hurricane. Now, I’ve never been on one in the middle of a hurricane. It would have to be absolutely terrifying, I’m sure. But what would you do if you were on a ship that was relatively secure and you couldn’t get to land? You’d find some place on the ship that you could cling to, some kind of handle, some wall that you could push yourself against, something so you wouldn’t get tossed to and fro in the sea.
What do we do in these moments as the storms of life hit us, including with this coronavirus crisis? We hang on to God’s promises. We hang on to that promise that we can wrap our arms around far more than anything on a ship because we know it will last, and nothing can rip it apart. Nothing.
The interesting thing about God’s Word, and we see that in this psalm, is that God doesn’t promise that we’d be freed from life’s storms, but he promises that we can be freed from the fear of life’s storms. There’s a big difference there. We often want in our moment to be freed from it. We just want any problem to go away. We want to wake up tomorrow and see our nation and our world exactly how we imagined it would be this year. We want it to be normal.
God doesn’t promise that. David is out hiding in a cave, even though he’s fulfilling the very call of God. What do we find? Well, in the midst of those storms, in the midst of that uncertainty, we can be freed from fear of those storms because our God, the God that we are called to serve, will turn up not just in this moment but in all of eternity.
God doesn’t always act as quickly as we’d like, as much as we want him to. I’m sure it wasn’t as quickly as David would like either. I’m sure that he wished that God would just instantly fulfill his promise that he would be king and all would be well, but that wasn’t God’s will. What was God’s will? His will was to call David, to protect David, and to always be with David.
God didn’t promise to free him, and he doesn’t promise to free us from the storms of life. He promises to free us from the fear of the storms of life.
Why does he do that? God is faithful and he loves us, and as uncertain as these times may seem, as uncertain as this very evening may seem, that’s what’s true.
If you’re tuning into this and you haven’t heard this before and you’re just hearing about this wonderful God, I hope that you’ll leave a message. We’d love to talk to you more.
If you’ve been thinking for a long time you should trust in Jesus, I pray that you do that right now. You don’t need to be in any place special. You can be in your home watching a Facebook live stream and pray, ask for forgiveness of your sins, and trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and know that you can take hold of something far stronger than anything that can withstand any storm.
For those of you who have, this is a reminder of the promises that we’ve trusted. And when we have trusted in Jesus, when we have realized the promises and the fulfillment that God is bringing about in our lives, this is what it’s about: that in these moments of fear, we can be freed from that fear. Because God doesn’t promise to free us from the storms of life. He does promise to free us from the fear of the storms of life.
I thank you for tuning in tonight to this live stream. I pray that it has been an encouragement to you. We’re going to do this again, pick up and go into the next few verses of Psalm 57 next week.
In the meantime, let me go ahead and pray for us, and then I’ll share a few more momentary announcements before we pray. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you for your goodness and your love. We thank you that you free us from fear, because life is scary, life is uncertain, and yet we know as we trust in you and in your goodness and in your grace, that you free us from all fear, because we know that you will triumph, that your purposes are fulfilled just as this Psalm declares. Lord, would you remind us of that tonight, even in the midst of this uncertainty, and would you protect every person that is listening to this, remind them of your promises, would you help us all to turn more to you and to share that hope that we have in you with others. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Before you sign off, let me just mention once again, I’m Tim Butler, I’m the pastor at Little Hills Church. We’re actually supposed to launch in a few weeks, but we decided to pick up and start a little bit early just to offer some encouragement.
If you’re looking for a church home, we’d love to have you stop by in a few weeks once we are able to open up. If you’re in a good church home, please tune in anyway. This isn’t about just promoting a church; this is about going into God’s Word and being encouraged by it.
We’ll be putting out reminders about next week’s continuation of this little series entitled Steadfast. So I encourage you to like us on social media, you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Little Hills Church, and on Twitter at Little Hills C. You can also visit us online at LittleHills.Church, that’s LittleHills.Church.
For more information, please tune in again next week, please share this with anyone that might be encouraged by it. Again, we just want to encourage a body of Christ like this, and I pray that tonight this was an encouragement to you.
Thank you again for tuning in.