Help from Psalm 57

I came to Psalm 57 a couple mornings ago feeling burdened and a bit worn out, and found help there.

What I saw was that David, in the midst of his own trouble, still had a passion for God’s world-wide glory. He cries out, twice – in v 5 and again in v 11 – ‘Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!’ That encouraged me to maintain a focus on God’s goodness and glory in the midst of my own troubles.

That helped. But I got even more help from Psalm 57 through my wise and Bible-loving wife. In our family devotions, we are reading the Psalm for the day from the Bible-reading plan. This is good, because it means I read the Psalm on my own each morning and think and pray over it, and then we read it together and think and pray over it again.

Emma pointed out something in Psalm 57 I hadn’t seen, and it has been giving me strength ever since. She pointed me to verse 2: ‘I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.’ Look how David, who is in the midst of trouble and discouragement, describes God: ‘I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.’ God fulfills his purpose for me in my struggles. He has a purpose for me, and he is working to fulfill it. And his purpose cannot be thwarted. That is HUGELY hope-giving for me.

I want to encourage you to read the Bible with your spouse regularly. You will grow together over God’s Word, your conversations will inevitably be more gospel-centered, and you will sharpen each other. One couple in our church is doing the Bible-reading plan by reading it out loud to each other each day. This week, they told me that they had started reading 2 Chronicles and couldn’t put it down! They read way ahead of the Bible-reading plan because they were so intrigued by the story.

There is no better way to gain encouragement and strength than reading God’s Word, and reading it together with your spouse or your family or a friend is also incredibly helpful. I’m thankful for how Psalm 57 is sustaining me.

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Sep 2, 09:54 AM