Refuge

Taking care of ourselves when threatened can be stressful. Since God is our true caretaker, trusting and moving in sync with him should be our primary goal.

A David psalm. When he fled from Saul into the cave.

¹ Be gracious to me, God
be gracious for I’ve taken refuge in you
and I’m hiding in the shadow of your wings
till the tempest blows past.
² I cry out to God Most High
who fulfills his purposes for me.
³ He will send help from heaven and save me
humiliating those who trample on me.
God will send his unfailing love and faithfulness.
⁴ I lie down surrounded by lions.
Their teeth are spears and arrows
their tongues sharpened swords.

⁵ Rise up high above the heavens, O God!
May you reign in glory over all the earth!

⁶ They set a trap for my feet
and I became despondent.
But though they dug a pit in my path
they’re the ones who fell into it.
⁷ My mind is resolute, God
my heart unwavering—
I’ll sing and make music.
⁸ Wake up, my soul!
Wake up, harp and lyre!
Let’s wake up the dawn!
⁹ I’ll celebrate you among the nations, my Lord
singing your praises to everyone everywhere.
¹⁰ Because your unfailing love is so vast
that it reaches the heavens
and your faithfulness touches the clouds.

¹¹ Rise up high above the heavens, O God!
May you reign in glory over all the earth!

Saul’s encounter with David in the cave is slapstick humorous. Seeking privacy to go to the washroom, Saul enters the cave alone and unprotected, with no clue that David is inside. Unseeing in the dark, exposed, and extremely vulnerable, he’s so preoccupied with the business at hand that he’s oblivious to all danger.

David could easily have seen this moment as the one he’s been waiting for—providential—and killed Saul in cold blood. But he has no desire to do that. Only in Saul’s paranoid thinking does he want Saul’s head. But in a completely different sense, this truly is the moment David’s waited for, because he can now demonstrably prove he’s not against Saul, as he does moments later. While Saul relieves himself, David cuts off the corner of Saul’s robe. Then after Saul has left the cave, David has someone return the piece of cloth to Saul as clear, hard proof that David could easily have killed him if he’d wanted.

Before any of that happens, though, David knows Saul’s army could easily have starved him out if only they’d known he was in the cave. But then David watches in wonder as God turns the tables in such a way that David’s position in the cave makes Saul, not David, the vulnerable one. As David sees that God, not Saul, is the one in charge, God’s glory illumines the cave for him.

David knows Saul isn’t going to stop chasing him, but that’s suddenly irrelevant since he also knows nothing can keep God from fulfilling his purposes for him. God will send him help and shelter him under his wings. So David responds with courage, not sighing in resignation, but rather singing for all he’s worth. Singing loud enough to waken the dawn. Even from the back of the cave.

Prayer:

Jesus, I want to be in sync with you, like David in the cave. Open my eyes to see you filling the darkness around me, sheltering me, fulfilling your purposes. Your unfailing love and faithfulness fill my world—you reign over all! Help me believe that and live into it. Amen.

In your free moments today, pray this prayer:

I cry out to God Most High
who fulfills his purposes for me.

The God whose word is sure

Being vulnerable, we seek assurance of safety and success from every available quarter—even from powerful people whose word can’t be trusted. Ultimately, only God’s word proves reliable.

A David psalm. When the Philistines seized him in Gath. 

¹ Be gracious to me, O God
for people are attacking me
tearing me down all day long!
² They trample me underfoot—
so many people boldly attacking me!
O Most High
³ I turn in faith to you when I’m afraid.
⁴ Having put my trust in God
whose word I praise
I won’t give in to fear:
what can mere mortals do to me?
⁵ Obsessed with hurting me
they twist my words all day long.
⁶ They join together, lurk and spy
watching my every move
determined to take my life.
⁷ Don’t let them get away with their crimes!
Strike the nations down in your anger, God!

⁸ You’ve tracked my tossing and turning
and collected all my tears in your bottle
recording each one in your ledger.
⁹ My enemies will turn back
when I cry to you for help.
I know this because God is for me.
¹⁰ I trust in God, whose word I praise.
I trust in YHWH, whose word I praise.
¹¹ Having put my trust in God
I won’t give in to fear:
what can mere mortals do to me?
¹² I will yet fulfill my vows to you, God
and offer sacrifices to thank you.
¹³ Because you’ve delivered me from death
and kept my feet from stumbling
so that I can walk in God’s presence
in the light of life.

Tired of being the mouse in Saul’s cat-and-mouse game, David flees to Gath, in a move both desperate and daring. It’s desperate because he runs straight into the arms of his enemy, just as political refugees often do now, hoping to find refuge due to their having a common foe—the common foe in this case being King Saul. It’s especially daring because David seeks shelter from the very Philistines he’d defeated and shamed by decapitating their champion, Goliath. Doubtless still smouldering over that, some—most likely Goliath’s kinsmen—surveil David and drag him before their king, determined to prove him a traitor, strip him of the king’s protection, and kill him.

Knowing the Philistine king’s word is worthless since he’ll cave under pressure, David repeatedly praises God’s word. He knows only God’s promise of protection is rock-solid, beyond reproach. So he turns to his true protector, putting his trust in him.

He takes comfort in God’s character. Far from being indifferent to our pain, God knows all we’ve suffered and treasures every tear we shed. Doubtless clinging to God’s promise that he’ll be Israel’s next king, David knows that, with God for him, his enemies can’t possibly do anything to him that God doesn’t permit, provided David keeps his eyes on him. David thus experiences God’s peace, though he’s still in grave danger, humanly speaking. He prays that God will judge his enemies and rescue him, as he walks in God’s life-giving light.

Prayer:

Lord, you know all I’m up against and cherish my every tear. You are unequivocally for me, no matter how much opposition I face or how weak and vulnerable I feel. I put my trust in your sure promise today. Establish your sovereign rule in and through me, I pray. Amen.

Meditate on this truth in your free moments today:

You’ve delivered me from death
and kept my feet from stumbling
so that I can walk in God’s presence
in the light of life.

Prayer to the burden-bearing God

Betrayal, whether personal or communal, is very hard to bear. Like David, we see conflict, gouging, fraud, and violence in our cities. Whether we know it or not, we are all of us under attack.

A David psalm.

¹ Listen to my prayer, O God.
Don’t pretend you don’t hear my cry!
² Pay attention and answer me
because my trouble torments me.
I shudder at the enemy’s shouts
³ and the evildoers’ threats leave me distraught.
For they hurl curses down on me
and vent their fury on me.

⁴ My heart pounds in my chest
as death’s terrors overwhelm me.
⁵ Gripped by fear and trembling
I shake uncontrollably ⁶ and say:
“If only I had wings like a dove
I’d fly away and find rest!
⁷ I’d flee far away
and find a safe place in the wilderness.
⁸ I’d hurry and find a shelter for myself there
from this raging storm of abuse.”

⁹ Muddy their thoughts, Lord
and muddle their words
for I see Violence and Quarreling in the city.
¹⁰ Tragically, they’re the ones
who patrol its walls day and night.
They leave Malice and Mischief living inside
¹¹ Ruin a permanent resident
and Fraud and Gouging
ever-present in its marketplace!

¹² It’s not an enemy taunting me—
that I could bear.
Nor is it a rival insolently tearing me down—
that I could hide from.
¹³ No, it’s you, my kindred spirit
my ally and close friend
¹⁴ whose companionship was so enjoyable to me
walking together with the crowd in God’s house!
¹⁵ Let death seize them suddenly
and the grave swallow them alive
for evil makes its home in their hearts.

¹⁶ But I call on God
and YHWH rescues me.
¹⁷ Morning, noon and night
I voice my complaint with loud moans
and he hears my cry.
¹⁸ He will redeem me
safe and sound from the battle around me
though so many people oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who sits enthroned forever
will hear me and humble them
since they’re obstinate and don’t fear him.

²⁰ My companion attacked their friends
and violated their covenant.
²¹ Though their speech was smooth as butter
their heart was set on war.
Though their words were smoother than oil
in fact they were drawn swords.

²² Throw your burden on YHWH
and he will sustain you.
He’ll never let God-seekers be shaken.

²³ But you, God
will throw the wicked down
into the deepest pit.
The treacherous and bloodthirsty
won’t live out half their days.
But as for me
I put my trust in you.

In hyperbolic descriptions, David takes us on the emotional rollercoaster of his current alienation and danger. He’s surrounded by enemies. But far more bitter, a close friend and confidant has betrayed him. This leaves him feeling so vulnerable he longs to escape his situation entirely. He also laments the havoc unfolding under his enemies’ influence. They’ve put the city’s safety into the hands of personified Violence and Quarreling and, so, betrayed their people as a whole.

With so much at stake, David’s requests come out as imperatives, telling God to both rescue him from his enemies and give them the reckoning they so richly deserve. Besides endangering his life, they wreak havoc on many other vulnerable people. So without mincing words, he asks God to send his enemies to their death. His paradigm here seems to be that of Israel’s exodus, by which the Israelites were set free and their enemies simultaneously overthrown. And David intersperses his laments and petitions with assurances of God’s power and commitment to deal with evil decisively and support his people—doubtless as much for his own encouragement as for others.

Without giving us the specifics of David’s situation, this psalm fits the situations of many others well—for example, Jeremiah on his way to the pit and Jesus in Gethsemane. The accuser of God’s children, Satan, together with the dark powers under him, constantly tries to weaken and defeat us in our efforts to do good. This tells us the psalm is for all of us in various ways.

Prayer:

God, I lament so many politicians’ betrayal of those in their care. Please end their misrule and replace them with people who share your values. I believe you care and will act. Help me to surrender my burden to you and trust you to sustain me. Amen.

Meditate on this truth in your free moments today:

Throw your burden on YHWH
and he’ll sustain you.
He’ll never let God-seekers be shaken.

God is my helper

With violence and oppression endemic in our world, it’s often hard to believe God will really right every wrong. But as the God of justice, he calls us to trust and pray that he’ll do just that.

A David psalm. When the Ziphites went and told Saul, “David’s hideout is in our territory.”

¹ O God, act in character, and rescue me!
Act in power, and take up my cause!
² Listen to my prayer, God
and pay attention to what I’m saying.

³ Because outsiders are attacking me.
Thugs with no thought of God are after my life.

⁴ But God is my helper—
my Lord is the one who sustains my life.
⁵ May my enemies’ evil be turned back on them.
Keep your word now and finish them off.

⁶ I will sacrifice to you for all your bounty to me.
I’ll praise your name, YHWH
because it’s good.
⁷ Because he rescued me from all my troubles
and let me see my enemies get their due.

Celebrity watching was no less popular in David’s day than it is now. Any Israelite wanting to know the truth, would have known that King Saul had an oversized ego and that David didn’t deserve his rage. Though the Ziphites were members of David’s own tribe, they went and told Saul where David was hiding. The Ziphites’ leaders thus ruthlessly sided with the oppressor, displaying blatant disregard for God. So even though they’re Israelites, David views them as outsiders with no right to shape Israel’s future.

David responds to the crisis by pouring his heart out to God. He knows God alone can help him, that God alone is keeping him alive. He asks for God’s help not because he’s earned it, but because it’s in God’s character to rescue and to right this world’s wrongs. Some consider David unkind for asking God to bring the evildoers’ evil back on their own heads. But David isn’t taking justice into his own hands—he’s simply asking God to act and bring their evil to its predetermined end.

David concludes on a note of thanksgiving for God’s unexpected grace in rescuing him. In fact, he’s so confident about God’s character that he views God’s rescue as a done deal. He will witness his enemies’ downfall. His God won’t fail him. And when God sets things right, David will freely offer his thanks.

Prayer:

Thank you, Jesus, that you care for the oppressed and will one day right every wrong. Help me rest in that knowledge when I feel condemned by evildoers and hemmed in or harried by darkness. Let me rest in your goodness, knowing you will never let evil have the last word. Amen.

Meditate on this truth during your free moments today:

Surely God is my helper—
my Lord is the one who sustains my life.