My heart is steadfast, O God

.... my heart is steadfast (Psalm 57:7). The context of this Psalm is of David hiding in a cave from King Saul who was seeking his life. In the first verse of the Psalm he cries out “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.” The difficulties of life are crossroads for the believer. You and I can give into fear, anger or offence, or we can turn to God in trust. David is not in denial about his situation, like the proverbial ostrich hiding his head in the sand. Speaking poetically he tells God that his soul is among lions, and that their teeth are spears and arrows (verse 4). Yet twice in this short Psalm he also declares “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be over all the earth” (5, 11). The first time he does this,  is immediately after, as said above, he has faced the reality of his situation.

Praising God is not the natural man's response to troubles.  However after choosing to trust, and then proclaiming His faithfulness (verses 1, 2) it is David's determined act of faith. Such a response is not based on feelings, for at such times not one of us would likely feel like praising God. We don't feel our way into action however, that's not the way it works. Rather, we act our way into feelings. Such action is not pretending. God is faithful and merciful, righteous and holy,  independent of our feelings. In other words He is worthy of praise whether we feel like it or not. And so when we choose to praise in the midst of our trials,  we are practicing living in the truth. It seems to me,  that choosing to worship Him in our pain, is part of what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  

Concerning acting our way into feelings, it is after praising God that David speaks this morning's title verse.  It is by our determined action to respond in faith to all that occurs,  that our hearts become steadfast. Isaiah cries out “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You” (Isaiah 26:3).  At the risk of being overly repetitious,  it is a choice to keep our minds and hearts steadfastly fixed on the One who is able to deliver, on the One who “performs all things for me” (verse 2b). It is also a choice to allow ourselves to be swayed, offended or tripped up by circumstances, or by things not going our way!  

Father, we tend to say things like “he made me mad!” It's an excuse to blame our choice to respond in anger or offence,  on the actions of others. We are not responsible for the wrong done to us, but we are responsible for our response to it. We need Your help Father, to stop blaming others and,  after having poured out our complaint to You (Psalm 142:2), to turn to You in praise. And so we say with David this morning “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be over all the earth” in Jesus Name Amen