Be merciful to me. Oh God, be merciful to me. For in you, my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame him who trample me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
– Psalm 57:1–3
I wanted to pray according to verse one, but then I read verse two and I was like, oh, we got to do verse two. And then I got to three and I said, oh, we got to do verse three.
Psalm 57:1–3 Is a Picture of God’s Mercy
This passage, it’s so rich, it’s so full. Just let verse one soak in. This picture of God’s mercy as your soul takes refuge in the shadow of his wings until the storms of destruction pass by. In other words, storms of destruction will pass by.
Some of you’re walking through storms right now in your life, and I just want to encourage you with this word from God. Those storms will pass by. Those storms, for all who trust in God, will not be the end of your story, and they’ll not just pass by, but as you’re in the middle of them, you can take refuge in the shadow of God’s wings.
Cry out to him, this is verse two, to God who fulfills his purpose for you. God has a purpose in the storm. God is working in the middle of the storm. Cry out to him for him to accomplish his purpose in you, through you, in the lives of others around you. He is working, so cry out to him and trust him to bring about his purpose through these storms.
Psalm 57:1–3 Reminds Us of God’s Steadfast Love
Then verse three, God will send from heaven and save you. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness. What a picture. From heaven, God’s steadfast love and his faithfulness are sent out to you. Just realize this today. Soak this in today. Live in this today that God is sending out from heaven, steadfast love and faithfulness your way all day long.
Oh God, we praise you for your word. We love your word. We love Psalm 57, verses one through three, and so we pray this over each other right now, especially those who are walking through storms. Be merciful oh God and bring refuge in the shadow of your wings until these storms pass by. God, we praise you that these storms will pass by.
As long as they’re here, we cry out to you and we pray that you would fulfill your purpose in the storm. God do all that you want to do in us, through us, in the lives of people around us, people far from us. You accomplish your purpose. We pray, oh God, whatever you want. You’re all wise. Lord, you’re all good. You’re all loving. Accomplish your purpose and as you do, we pray, send from heaven your steadfast love and faithfulness to us. May we live today with the awareness that steadfast love and faithfulness are flowing from heaven upon us. Oh God, we praise you for this.
Praying for the Abu Sharib People
We pray for people who’ve never heard of your steadfast love and faithfulness. God, we pray today for the Abu Sharib people of Chad, knowing there’s a small church there. Oh God, help this small church among hundreds of thousands of people who don’t know the gospel. God bless them. Be merciful to them. Bring them refuge in the shadow of your wings, fulfill your purpose through them.
Send out love and faithfulness to them and bless them for the spread of the gospel among the Abu Sharib, among so many people who’ve never heard the gospel. God, we pray that the Abu Sharib people would be reached with the good news of Psalm 57:1–3. That there is a God, the one true God who has sent his son. Steadfast love and faithfulness have come from heaven to save them from their sins. God, we pray for salvation to spread among the Abu Sharib people of Chad. We pray all of this according to your word in Psalm 57:1–3, which we love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
