Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 57

[00:00:07] Welcome to Lessons From The Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. On this podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms. Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this song today.

[00:00:26] Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. This is Psalm 57, beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:41] 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.

[00:00:58] 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.

[00:01:13] Say, Lord, 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.

[00:01:34] 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.

[00:01:51] Into the midst of it, they themselves have fallen, say, Lord. My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise.

[00:02:06] O wake, my glory, o wake, loot 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 under the clouds.

[00:02:27] Friends, Psalm 57 is attributed to David. And what I'd like to do is read the commentary in my Bible for this Psalm, and I am reading out of the Nelson study Bible, but this commentary goes into great death and detail and really lets us know what the background is for this particular Psalm.

[00:02:51] Psalm 57 is another of David's poems, in which the title gives the specific setting of the Psalm, and the title is prayer for safety from enemies.

[00:03:06] The narrative of David's life indicates that he twice hid in caves once in a dualum, and that account is found in 1 Samuel chapter 22, which was the setting of Psalm 142, and once in and getty.

[00:03:28] And we're going back to first Samuel this time it's in chapter 24, the setting of this poem. So now David is in and getty. David spared Saul's life, even though Saul had become an easy target, while pursuing David, the king had entered a cave to relieve himself.

[00:03:53] It's so happened that he chose the very cave in which David was hiding. Rather than killing Saul, while he had the chance, David cut off a piece of the king's garment.

[00:04:07] David later repented, even of that act against Saul. This Psalm is one of four that were set to the tune, do not destroy. So friends, let's break this Psalm down, beginning in verse 1.

[00:04:25] Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for my soul trusts in you. Now friends, this should be our prayer to God every day that he show us mercy.

[00:04:42] No matter how hard we try in life, we will never be perfect. We never will be perfect. So we need the mercy of God each and every day of our lives. And because of that, we need to learn to be merciful to other people as well. That is key.

[00:05:04] And in the shadow of your wings, I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. Now friends, that first part of the verse reminds me of Psalm 91, one of my favorite Psalms and probably one of your favorite Psalms as well.

[00:05:24] The last part, until these calamities have passed by. And friends, there will always be something in our lives that will keep us from being who we're supposed to be or from doing what God has called us to do.

[00:05:41] Let's look at verse 2, 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. Say, law. Now, say, law tells us to meditate on what we just read.

[00:06:04] And let's read it again. He shall send from heaven and save me. He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Friends, this is a reminder that we should often pray to God in our time of day.

[00:06:22] He will hear our prayer and he will help us get through whatever situation that we're being presented with at that point in our lives. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

[00:06:38] My soul is among lions. I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire whose teeth are spears and arrows and they're tongue a sharp sword.

[00:06:53] Our friends, this one verse reminds us that there will always be someone in our life that is coming against us. We need to be prepared for it in season and out of season in the morning at noon in the evening.

[00:07:12] We always need to be aware and anticipate the fact that someone wants to trip us up. Let's go to verse 5.

[00:07:22] Be exalted, oh God, above the nations, let your glory be above all of the earth. And what first five tells me is that anything that God does is more important and has more significance than anything on our earth.

[00:07:44] Let's go to verse 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.

[00:08:00] Say, long. Now friends, this brings me to the point I said earlier is that someone will always be coming against us but this verse tells me that when they conspire against us that they will end up bearing themselves and falling into the pit that they have set for you.

[00:08:24] Let's go to verse 7. My heart is steadfast, oh God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise. A wake, my glory, a wake, loot and heart. I will awaken the dawn.

[00:08:42] Now friends, verse 7 tells me that we need to be resolute in our goal in life which should be to demonstrate and do what God has called us to do. We need to be steadfast. We need to be determined to do everything he has called us to do.

[00:09:08] Verse 9, I will praise you of Lord among the peoples. I will sing to you among the nations for your mercy reaches unto the heavens and your truth under the clouds. Be exalted O God above the heavens, let your glory be above all the earth.

[00:09:30] And friends with these three verses remind me of is no matter what is going on in our lives. It doesn't really matter. Heavenly things or the things of God and the purposes of God are always going to be higher than what we have here on earth.

[00:09:52] Friends, please join me again soon as we take a closer look at Psalm 50.