We live in a culture that speaks of a 'can-do' attitude. Whatever is going on in your life, you can make it through on your own strength and some self belief. You only have to look at Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music with her swinging guitar, singing about her confidence in confidence alone to see this in action. Or what about the catchy Ray Charles lyrics, “when you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don’t be afraid of the dark”? Or how about those little pep talks we hear all the time on popular talk shows, “Go girl! Believe in yourself, follow your heart, you can do it!”? These are some expressions of a proud “can-do” bravado but how do they sit with us as Christians? Or do they in fact fly right in the face of the gospel of Jesus?
In Psalm 57 there’s a fugitive king hiding in a cave, up against brutal force and deceitful words. But he can say these words, "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!" How can King David possibly claim that his heart is steadfast? Is he the stoic in denial of reality? Has he been visualising soothing places of safety and been practising the power of positive thinking? Let’s have a closer look at the king in crisis.
In verse 1, he says, “Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.” David’s hope is fixed on God’s grace and mercy; he finds his security under the protective spread of God’s wings. And let’s see David’s focus when his world falls apart: verse 2 “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me.” The hunted king’s confidence comes from the fact that God is working out His purposes for him. The king in the cave anchored his confidence in God’s sovereign plans – which God is executing without being undermined.
In his terrifying circumstances, the hunted king, had an overwhelming sense of His God’s loyal and vindicating love: verse 3 and 10 say, “He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me – God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”
Friends, here’s the love vast as the ocean that inspires solid confidence in life and death – for every single one of us: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
Are any of us today scared, unstable, depressed, proudly self-confident, persecuted, or wobbly? There’s good news of Jesus Christ instead of in all those silly pop psychologies cheering us on to hold our heads up high and believe in ourselves and live the dream. David, still in the cave, still in deep trouble, vocalises his God’s marvellous worth. Isn’t his steadfast heart a wonderful testimony of God’s never ending mercy, protection and sovereign love!
Do we thank our lucky stars when things turn out well? Do we forget to give God glory and brag,
flagrantly or subtly, about the steadfastness of our heart? Next time we are freaked out by an emergency or our faith is tested and stretched to breaking point, may the Holy Spirit remind us of God’s mercy, sovereignty and unshakable love.
May this be the song heard from our “caves”: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Exalted be my Lord – my heart is steadfast, my heart is steadfast!
