“My heart is steadfast, O God”
[Psalms 57]
This Monday morning I was at home with my youngest daughter Karis, and we watched a cartoon called “Cailou”. While watching the cartoon, we saw a child named Cailou planted a tree with his father and worried about the tree because the wind was blowing. At that time, Cailou's father came to help Cailou by bringing a still and tied it with the tree so that the planted tree wouldn’t be shaken. That scene came into my mind during the Mother’s day morning prayer meeting. As I thought about the scene, I thought of becoming the stick that was tied together next to the tree to my children at home. In other words, I prayed to God that I should be strong support for my children like that stick so that they will not be shaken.
After reading the book ‘Who is the Father?’(by Jong Yoon Kim), there were these two writings among the readers’ reviews: ‘I know the preciousness of my father but I overlook. Although I hate him, I think him as a precious person who gives me strong support so I placed him in my heart. … It was a good book that reminded me of the preciousness and gratitude of my father which I didn’t think about.’ ‘The support of life, the father (Gunjong Jo): The father is the one who was not close in my life but protected me with great support’ (Internet). As I read this readers’ reviews, I felt that despite hating or not close to many fathers' relationships with their sons (or daughters), the fathers were precious people and strong support to their children. Therefore, we must be strong support for our children, just as our father of faith are strong support for us. What must we do to do that? Our hearts must be steadfast. If we look at Psalms 57:7, we can see the psalmist David determined like this: “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!” Here, the word “steadfast” means ‘to settle the mind, has a steadfast, fixed, (belief, etc.), and immovable. In other words, it wasn't simply determined, it was confirmed. He decided and determined that there was nothing else. This means that this is only hope and only way.
‘The life of the person who made up his mind is happy. The difference between a shaking life
and a fixed life is big like the difference between happiness and unhappiness. Fear comes to
those who can’t make up their mind. There is no fear for those who made up their mind. It is
because there is no regret. It is a fixed heart that there is no regret. … Our minds must be
fixed and focused in one place. If a believer's heart is fluctuating, he cannot please God. The
faith of the saints must be fixed on God. When my faith in God is shaken, then I cannot live
a life full of grace’ (Internet).
I would like to receive three lessons that the believers whose hearts have been steadfast do when they are in crisis and adversity, under the headline “My heat is steadfast, O God”, based on Psalms 57:7.
First, the believers whose hearts are steadfast take refuge in crisis and adversity.
Look at Psalms 57:1 – “Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.” The psalmist David took refuge in the Lord because of the destruction that came upon him. What was that destruction? It was Saul's persecution. As the title says, Psalms 57 is a poem that David wrote when he was in a cave. David was running away from King Saul because of Saul's persecution. Interestingly, the word “Al-taschith” on the title means “Do not destroy.” In verse 4, David described his situation like this: “My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword.” The reason why David described his enemies, that were Saul and his people, as “lions” was because they tried to harm David with such cruelty (Park). They prepared a net for David's steps (v. 6). So David poured out his heart by saying “My soul is bowed down” (v. 6). Eventually, he took refuge in the Lord when he was at the crossroads of life and death to the point of being destroyed by Saul, the disaster that came upon him. David took refuge in Him until disaster passed by (v. 1).
So where did David take refuge? He took refuge in the shadow of the Lord’s wings. The word ‘taking refuge in the shadow of the Lord’s wings’ is a metaphor, meaning that God’s protection for the saints is like the wings that a hen embraces and protects its chick (Park). This parable appears in several places in the Bible, and among them is Deuteronomy 32:11-12. This is what God said to Moses: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.” Just as an eagle shakes its nest, drops its eaglet, flutters over its eaglet, spreads its wings to receive the eaglet, and carries it on its wings, sometime when we are so comfortable in our home, God shakes our homes, dropping us like a mother eagle pushing her eaglet from the high nest on a sheer cliff. At that time, we struggle to get out of that crisis as if the eaglet’s instinct is to lift its head up and to try to fly with its’ wings in order not to fall to the ground. However, in spite of such desperate struggles, there are times when we see ourselves keep on falling, just as the eaglet falling helplessly toward the ground. Just like the moment just before hitting the ground, the mother eagle flew toward the eaglet, carrying the eaglet on its wings and flying back to the nest, our God saves us and guides us.
Second, the believers whose hearts are steadfast cry out to God in crisis and adversity.
Look at Psalms 57:2 – “I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.” David made God his refuge in the midst of disaster and took refuge in Him and cried out to God. In David's prayer as he trusted in Him, we need to think about the object of his prayer, that is God.
(1) The God David trusted in his prayer was “God Most High”.
Look at Psalms 57:2 again – “I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.” In one way or another, it can be said that David looked to God Most High and cried out to Him when he was in the lowest place. Just as the eaglet falls from its nest and sees its mother eagle before hitting the ground and screams 'help me', the deeper we fall into the pit of calamity, the more we cry out, looking at God Most High, knowing that we have no hope but only the Lord. An example is prophet Jonah. In the book of Jonah, Jonah went down to Tarshish by boat, and went further down to the deep sea in a great fish, But he prayed that he decided to look again toward the temple of the Lord (Jon.2:4).
(2) The God David trusted in his prayer was “God who accomplishes all things for me”.
Look at Psalms 57:2 again – “I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.” God Most High is the God who accomplishes His will for us. David cried out to this God. Look at Isaiah 14:24, 27 – “The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, "Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, … For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” What is the Lord's will for us? What are His thought? What is His plan? It is our “salvation”.
(3) The God David trusted in his prayer was ‘God who is loving and true God’.
Look at Psalms 57:3 – “He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me Selah God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.” David cried out to God Most High, the Lord who fulfills His will for David, with assurance of salvation. How did David convinced that the Lord would save him? He was convinced that God would send forth “His lovingkindness and His truth” from heaven and save him from the slander that would devour him. What does it mean? This is a poetic expression that personifies and speaks of God's loving and truthful act of salvation (Park). Our Lord is loving and faithful, and in fulfilling His will that is our salvation, He faithfully fulfills His will only with His love. We have no merit. Only by His lovingkindness and truth, we are saved.
Third and last, the believers whose hearts are steadfast glorify God in crisis and adversity.
Look at Psalms 57:5, 11 – “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. … Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” How did David glorify God? David glorified God by praising Him. Look at verses 7b-9: “… I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.” How was David able to glorify God by praising God at the crossroads of life and death? That was because David's heart was steadfast (v. 7). What is steadfast heart? Dr. Park said three things: (1) Those with steadfast heart are determined to die. David was determined to die and prepared his heart for it. (2) Those with steadfast heart are prepared to do all good. The peculiarity of a fool is a person without preparation. He is always unrest without a certain goal. But the saints move with their prepared mind. (3) Those with steadfast heart trust in the Lord and courageous. We must always look to the Lord, wait, pray, and accept Him in our hearts. What does it mean to accept the Lord in our hearts? That is, as promised in the Bible, that God will walk with the believers. Those believers who have steadfast heart are assured of God's salvation under any circumstances and earnestly want the glory of God to be exalted over the world. Even though we are getting smaller and we may be in an situation of hardship and adversity, I earnestly hope and pray that the glory of God will be covered all over the world as water covers the sea. David praised Him because he was grateful to the Lord, even though the disaster was upon him (v. 8). What was the reason? It was because he experienced His great lovingkindness and truth that was sent by God (v. 3). Therefore, I hope and pray that we, like David, can confess, “For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds” (v. 10).
On Sunday afternoon, I visited the nursing home to see Grandma Jang Eul-soo of our church. I told Grandma Jang,'Grandma, you are beautiful'. The reason I said that to her was because I saw little Jesus in her. I saw little Christ in her when she showed me an example of faith by praising the Lord with thanksgiving and by memorizing Psalms 23, the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. I thought she was beautiful woman in God’s perspective when I saw her crying out to God earnestly and glorifying Him by praising Him with steadfast heart toward the Savior Jesus who was her only hope at the crossroads of life and death. Following her example, I also want to praise God with thanksgiving with steadfast heart until I die.
Praying that my heart will be steadfast toward the Lord, and that I will be raised as a reliable support for my children and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,
James Kim
(After praising the gospel songs “Thee O Lord among the people” and “As The Waters Cover The Sea” to God during Wednesday night prayer meeting)