Fear can leave us frozen. We know all the reasons to be afraideverything thats hurt us in the past, everything that could easily do so again. So sometimes were stuckunable to go back; too afraid to move forward. I just cant do it. Im not smart enough, strong enough, or brave enough to handle being hurt like that again.
Im captivated by how author Frederick Buechner describes Gods grace: like a gentle voice that says, Here is the world. Terrible and beautiful things will happen. Dont be afraid. I am with you.
Terrible things will happen. In our world, hurting people hurt other people, often terribly. Like the psalmist David, we carry our own stories of when evil surrounded us, when, like ravenous beasts, others wounded us (Psalm 57:4). And so we grieve; we cry out (vv. 12).
But because God is with us, beautiful things can happen too. As we run to Him with our hurts and fears, we find ourselves carried by a love far greater than anyones power to harm us (vv. 13), a love so deep it fills the skies (v. 10). Even when disaster rages around us, His love is a solid refuge where our hearts find healing (vv. 1, 7). Until one day well find ourselves awakening to renewed courage, ready to greet the day with a song of His faithfulness (vv. 810).
INSIGHT
In the book of Psalms, superscriptions often precede the actual text. These notes shed light on the individual or group designated to lead the composition, the author, or the situation that inspired the lyrics. The superscription for Psalm 57 tells us David wrote this psalm when he had fled from Saul into the cave. Scripture records two times when David found refuge from Saul in a cave (1 Samuel 22 and 24). While there is uncertainty as to which of these two incidents is in view here, the truth of the psalm is crystal clearthe fearful, the anxious, the fleeing can find ultimate safety in the Lord (Psalm 57:1).
When was the last time a difficult situation caused you to call out to God Most High? (v. 2).