"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." (Psalm 57:1).
Many commentators agree that David wrote Psalm 57 after experiencing tremendous pressure, while running from Saul. King Saul, to whom David was a loyal servant, wanted to kill him because of demonic inspired jealousy. As a result, David fled from Saul leaving his wife behind and his close and dear friend Jonathan. Emotionally, David must have been experiencing deep discouragement and disappointment. While on the run, he went to Ahimelech the priest for provision, who became fearful of David's unexpected visit. Ahimelech asked David about why he had come alone, and David told Ahimelech one lie after another (See 1 Samuel 21-22). In desperation, David asked Ahimelech if he had any weapons and he advised David that all he had was Goliath's sword. Our mightiest weapon is prayer. Why was David lying and asking Ahimelech a priest for weapons, rather than calling for a prayer meeting? I believe at this time that David allowed his problems to become bigger than God and resorted to carnal means to try and resolve them. Since all Ahimelech had was Goliath's sword, David took it and departed. What good was relying on Goliath's sword going to do for him? It was so big and heavy it must have been more of a burden than anything else. What good did it do for Goliath when David was seeing straight? At that time David stood up to the most fearsome man on the planet when all of the armies of Israel were terrified, including Saul, because of how big Goliath was. But David didn't see how much bigger Goliath was than they were; all he could see was how much bigger God was than Goliath. After leaving Ahimelech with Goliath's Sword, Saul found out about Ahimelech helping David, and had him murdered along with other priests, who were serving with him. David's next move was even crazier. He fled to Achish, King of the Philistines (Israel's enemies) to seek refuge. They obviously did not receive him with open arms. Fearing for his life among the Philistines, he resorted to pretending that he was crazy. I know it's unbelievable, so I'm going to cut and paste the account for you to read for yourself: "And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.11And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.13And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard" (1 Sam. 21:10-13). Can you believe what the sweet Psalmist of Israel has resorted to? In fear, David fled once again and escaped to the cave Adullam. It was there that he cried out to God and was inspired to write the words of Psalm 57: "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." Finally, David turned to the God of mercies and took refuge under the shadow of his wings. If we were God we would have responded, "Now you come to me for help? After going to Ahimelech, lying to him for some bread and Goliath 's sword, you come to me? If you had not gone to him he would still be alive. If that wasn't enough, you actually thought that you could seek refuge among the Philistines?" No, God didn't say anything like that. Instead, when David cried out to God, the Lord, in his tender mercies, spread his loving wings and gave refuge unto one of his beloved servants. What a God! May our loving, gracious and heavenly Father be our first resource and not our last resort.
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