Finding Help In A Cave

Psalm 57:1-5

For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”

1Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!

I look to you for protection.

I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings

until this violent storm is past.

2I cry out to God Most High,

to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.

3He will send help from heaven to save me,

rescuing me from those who are out to get me.

Interlude

My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.

4I am surrounded by fierce lions

who greedily devour human prey—

whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,

and whose tongues cut like swords.

5Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!

May your glory shine over all the earth.

When we last left our hero David, he was getting kicked out of Gath, which proved to be a short-lived but effective hiding place (see previous devotional). Now David had to find another refuge from the violent paranoia of King Saul. Eventually David came upon a cave in the foothills of Judah (1 Samuel 22:1).

Imagine him settling into that cave, all alone in the world, deciding to make it his home for a while. Psalm 57 expresses some of his feelings at the time. He would hide in God’s mercy until the “violent storm” of Saul’s wrath had passed. Somehow God would “send help from heaven”—but how?

Then people started to show up—old friends, soldiers, relatives. He had grown up not far from here, so he may have known some of the local people. And people continued to come—homeless people, debtors, those in trouble with the law. This wasn’t the toast of society, by any means, but they flocked to David like sheep. Soon this lonely man had an army of four hundred. God had provided a security force.

From David’s experience we can learn a few quick lessons: (1) Yes, God does “fulfill his purpose” (Psalm 57:2); (2) he often uses other people to do so; but (3) they aren’t always the people we would choose to help us. Important things to remember when you find yourself hiding out in a cave.

My God! in whom are all the springs

Of boundless love and grace known,

Hide me beneath thy spreading wings,

Till the dark cloud be over-blown.

ISAAC WATTS

Bible Networking

For more about finding shelter under the Lord’s “wings” (verse 1), read Ruth 2:12, where Boaz is speaking to Ruth, and Matthew 23:37, where Jesus is speaking to Jerusalem.

Notable Quotable

“When we cannot see the sunshine of God’s face, it is blessed to cower down beneath the shadow of his wings.”

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON