Read Psalm 57
The third and final section of the Hebrew Bible within which we will see and anticipate Jesus is The Writings. The Writings include: Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
We will focus specifically on the Psalms this week. The Law showed us Jesus through the lives of the patriarchs. The Prophets showed us Jesus through the hope spoken to people who had fallen under judgment as a result of their sin. The Psalms show us Jesus in our experience. As you read the Psalms from beginning to end, you find a God-authored script by which the full gamut of human experience can be expressed. John Calvin referred to the Psalter as “an anatomy of all parts of the soul.” The Bible’s inspired hymnbook guides the believer through the highest summits and lowest valleys of life, and invites the not-yet believer to a Redeemer who, as a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3), experienced fully the emotions of these prayers. Since the Psalms are ultimately the prayers of Jesus, their full expression of human emotion convinces us that Jesus really is a high priest who can sympathize with us in every way (Hebrews 4:15). [1]
The theme of Psalm 57 is the glory of God. In the same chapter in which John identified Jesus as the light of the world, he informs us that we beheld God’s glory full of grace and truth in Jesus. Glory is an interesting word, but is God’s glory of any practical benefit in the hour of trial? Apparently it was to David. He is not singing this while in the comfort of his palace but while taking cover in a cave. He is either in the cave at Adullam (1 Sa. 22) or at En Gedi (1 Sa. 24) hiding from Saul. And at this low time of his life, he finds comfort in God’s glory. Christmas can be a difficult and depressing time for a lot of people. You may be one of them. The comfort David finds—and I hope you will find too—comes from God's presence. The presence of God’s grace is the chief quality of his glory that is highlighted in the Psalms. It is a dominant theme of this Psalm too.
Since the Psalms are ultimately the prayers of Jesus, their full expression of human emotion convinces us that Jesus really is a high priest who can sympathize with us.
Because God's glorious grace comes to us and abides with us, we can rest in God as a refuge. Think about the progression of David’s faith over the course of Psalms 52-57. In Psalm 55, he wished he had wings like a dove so that he could fly away from his troubles. In Psalm 56, he was still thinking about that dove because he set it to the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” However, in this psalm, he is no longer wishing for his own wings, but is resting beneath God’s wings. These were later identified to be Christ’s, the ones he held out to Israel throughout her history but many rejected (Mt. 23:37).
Whereas before, David was hiding from his enemies, now he is hiding in God. A further indication that David is reposing in the presence of God is that he does not name the cave. Most would be prone to honor the cave as a refuge, but not David. He was in a cave, but God’s gloriously present grace was his refuge. Notice that it was the refuge of his soul. Regardless of what happened to his body, his soul would repose in God.
The God who dwells in heaven comes to us in his grace to save. Do you know the same kind of love from God? If you are a believer, then you surely do. God loved the world, but he didn’t just love in word; he loved by sending his Son from heaven. How does that comfort you in the present? Paul tells us, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Ro. 8:32).
Whatever you need, you can be assured God will provide because he has supplied your greatest need by means of the greatest sacrifice he could make.
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Soul Anatomy, 3.