I would like to direct your attention this evening to the words which we find in the portion we read from the 57th Psalm, and really the words I would like to consider tonight are the second half of the first verse. Psalm 57, verse 1. I'll read the whole verse.

He begins his prayer in this way. 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 overpassed. We find David here in a very desperate case, as he so often sadly finds himself. And yet we find him not far from his God. We find him still looking to God. We find him still, I say, confident in God.

And this is one thing which perhaps strikes you as you read through these two Psalms, which it seems came very soon after one another. There is a good deal of confidence. David is constantly in great straight and he recites these things over and over again as he goes through these Psalms. And yet, it is not all negativity. It is not all about his troubles.

No, because we find that he begins and he ends in the same place. He begins and he ends with God. He begins and ends with the glory of God, with the praise of God. This is his concentration and time and time again we see here that the sentences which are inserted, which reflect this, which show forth the level of his confidence, his dependence is upon God. And so we find him here.

Yes, in a desperate case, but at the same time, before God his case is not so desperate as all that. He feels it to be desperate. It seems so desperate to him naturally in his flesh. And in terms of, as we might look at it outwardly, yes it was desperate. So many times we might say his case was desperate. He is there, almost about to be killed by his enemies. Saul is hunting him like a dog. Saul is pursuing him and will not rest until he is dead.

And yet here is a man, who in his heart, he has peace. Yet in his heart, he has this confidence. He has a hope, which is as an anchor for his soul. And therefore it is as though, though the storm may rage about him, yet he will not be moved. He will not be shaken off of this ground. Here he is fixed. Here he has found his foundation. And from this, he will not be moved.

God has helped him in the past. God has helped him and God is helping him now, he believes. And so God will help him all the time in the future, all the way through his life. He knows this is his only hope. He has learned, perhaps through hard experience, what comes of dependence upon man. He has learned the sad consequences. He has learned what the children of Israel found.

It is described in the prophets where they should lean upon Egypt for help, for horses and chariots and armies out of Egypt, where it shall be. as a reed which when leaned upon would pierce through the hand and altogether fail them and cause them more sadness and misery than ever they would have had without that worldly help. This we have set before us here in so many wonderful and very precious sentences, expressions which we do well to take for ourselves and employ in our own prayers and praises before God.

Now, if you would turn with me back just for a moment to 1 Samuel, we may see something of the time when these Psalms may have been written. Now, we cannot be sure exactly when it was. The Psalm preceding it, in Psalm 56, we have when David goes into Gath, which is the capital of the Philistines. We read of this in 1 Samuel chapter 21.

David was in fear of Saul, for Saul was hunting him down, and yet we find him arising and fleeing into Achish. We may wonder what David was doing when he did this. We may very well wonder what he was doing. He was being hunted by Saul, who was the king of Israel, who should have been his friend, in whose court he had previously served, with whose son he was a close and dear friend. And Saul was, after all, the king over David's people, the chosen people of God. And David, who has so far been preserved of the Almighty God, so far been kept in all his wanderings, preserved and helped all the way, he arises and he goes and he flees to Achish, the king of Gath, the king of the Philistines, who were the very nation that sought to destroy Israel, a nation that worshipped heathen idols and heathen gods, a nation who had no fear of God. These were not David's people. What was he doing? He was running away to the enemies of God. And what do we find?

And this, of course, I should have said before, all comes after he has lied to the priest, Ahimelech, about what he is doing when he goes to Ahimelech to have sustenance. And he also takes the sword of Goliath. He has lied to him that he was on the king's business, and so he escaped. And yet we see here, this is a slight aside and yet pertinent, he begins with this lie to a Himalak.

Then he goes and he flees into Gath. And then what do we find of him? Well, the king hears that David has come, and we read this, David was sore afraid of Achish, the king of Gath, and he changed his behavior before them and feigned himself mad in their hands, then scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. What has happened to this man of God? How low he has fallen!

See here, one sin, however small it may be, so quickly turns into another sin of greater degree, and then so forth, and so forth, and so forth. And something that at one time we might have said, I would never do that, Yet, if we are left a little while to begin in some sin and that sin becomes something greater, before too long we should not be surprised if we find ourselves even doing that very thing that we abhorred and hated so much.

James speaks of this. He speaks of this gradual progression which happens with man as he is in this world, surrounded by snares and temptations and things which may cause him to go astray. And he warns them, he says this, warning them against saying that they are tempted of God. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when last hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

David is spared, mercifully. He is preserved. He is delivered out of the hands of Achish. Because Achish comes in and he says, Lo, ye see the man is marred. Oh, but what has David come to that he must act marred now? in order to get himself out of this trouble. Have I need of madmen, says Achish, that he have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? David therefore departs and escapes to the cave of Dolom.

And then we find that there are all these that gather to him there in the cave. And he is somewhat strengthened. He acts to look after even those who were in distress, those in debt, everyone that was discontented, gathering themselves to him. And he became a captain over them. You see, he has brought himself into half of this trouble. His own sin, his own foolishness, his own wickedness has brought him so low. That is, in a way, the principal reason why he has been brought into this situation. If he had trusted in God and he had remained in Judah, his life perhaps would not have been easy, but surely he would have been preserved.

He would not have then had the increased burden of the guilt of sin upon his conscience as he comes to the Lord. And yet we find him here. As he is passing through all these things, he writes these Psalms which we have before us and we can see something of this glorious truth that though the people of God may fall by their own sins, yet they may be received. Yet now, being brought back and coming and returning in repentance and We know that in many of the Psalms and most famously the 51st, we have David in that state, coming before God as a desperate, earnest penitent, pleading for his mercy, pleading for his grace, pleading that he would look upon him with pity, that he would take away his sin and purge him and make him to be clean again.

But we find him here coming with the confidence of a man who was right with God. These things passed. These things confessed. These things forgiven. Now he is restored. Now he is back where he ought to be. Now he is in a better place. Not because Saul has been taken out of the picture. not because he has been delivered, not because all of these things are now over, not because his troubles are over, but because he has God for his God, and his trust and his confidence is in him. He is well conscious of his sins.

He opens both of these Psalms in the same way. Be merciful unto me, O God, Surely it may be said that there are many believers, many of those who have walked so closely with the Lord, who have gone on their lives and they have often prayed with these words. Or they have taken into their lips the words of the publican in Christ's parable, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God cannot ignore such cries as these, and he will not, and he shall never.

He will hear those who come humbly to him, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. Well, let us observe here in the first place the calamities that he here speaks of. Until these calamities be overpassed. Great distresses. Great trials. Great mountaintops and deep valleys. All checkered David's experience.

And are they not ours also in our lives? It may be that if we look at it in a certain way, it may seem as though we lurch at times from one calamity to the next. It seems that no sooner is one trouble passed than another very swiftly looms up on the horizon, and soon it is upon us. And such we could look at our lives. Such we could wonder sometimes, whether this is all that there is going to be, one problem after another, just going from one thing to the next, to the next.

Who's iron afflicted by wave upon wave, who no man can sucker, no man can save. So it may seem sometimes for us, calamities you say, great troubles. Ah, but may there not be smaller troubles as well? May there not be smaller afflictions, smaller problems? Well, sure.

And sometimes these all add up together and cause to us great difficulties. When we speak of these calamities, they may be all manner of things. They may be troubles and difficulties in outward things. They may be problems in our lives. They may be problems with, I may say, the temporal things, the things that we can see and feel, things that we have, perhaps, relationships with other people, with friends, with others, those who would be our enemies. Perhaps it is troubles through those who would persecute us, those who would destroy us, those who would work against us. Or perhaps it would be from those who would mock us and scorn us, those who think poorly of us for faith in Christ, Perhaps it would be those who are envious of us and would bring us down in this way. Perhaps there were those who would oppose us from going forwards as Christian people. Or maybe it is, again, that there are temporal troubles, natural problems in life, difficulties which are physical.

It may be that we are succumbed to ill health for a time. We have some great illness, some great trouble. Perhaps it is that physically we are limited. We have some great incapacity. Or maybe it could be, again, that we have some difficulties in our possessions. Perhaps we are short of money. Perhaps we are short of an abode. Perhaps it is that there are those who are homeless, those who struggle to find food and clothing. Perhaps not so much in our land, but certainly in other lands.

All these troubles may be for the people of God. Of course, for us in this land, even smaller inconveniences, inconveniences which would hardly be inconveniences to those with lesser means, may seem to us to be great problems, great obstacles in the way, great difficulties. Again, there may be great distresses that may befall us, Great troubles soon overtake and come upon families. Sadnesses, distresses, great difficulties. Again, there may be great calamities not only in a temporal sense, but also in a spiritual sense. Now consider this. What kind of calamities might be in a spiritual way? Well, you see, sin, temptation, fallen before the Lord. Now may not this be counted as a calamity, not final by the grace of God alone?

And yet is it not a terrible thing when we fall, when we are walking in the way with the Lord? We are seeking to follow after him, and yet we are overcome with some great temptation. Something comes to us and allures us. Perhaps a thought comes into our minds and we follow after it and as we have seen with David himself in his fall in this case, as James describes it, we are led away by our own lusts and our own passions and we fall into sin by this means.

Now is this not a calamity? There may be other difficulties. Perhaps you would not describe them so much as calamities, and yet troubles, I say, in this respect, that we may begin to have doubts and fears. Our minds may be filled with troubles in this way, and we may begin to wonder, was I ever saved at all? Do I really know what it is to have my heart changed? Do I really know what it is to have a heart of flesh? Do I really understand all these things?

And we may be greatly troubled by it. And sometimes all of these things join up together. And by some devilish scheme, Satan devises to bring us down by despair as much as by sin, and ruin our souls in some deep, desperate calamity. These are our common experience in life.

You may say calamity is far too dramatic a word to use in this context. It is far too serious a word to use. It seems almost too deep to speak of things as a calamity. And sure, it may be that for one, something which is a calamity may not be a calamity for somebody else.

But these things are irrelevant. I suppose what is the main thing which is spoken of here best touches the deepest and the darkest of problems. It touches even to the darkest of times in our lives, the darkest of moments. None are too bad for such a calamity as this.

The psalmist expresses this confidence, and yet he was not the only one to express such confidence. The psalmist was in these deep trials and troubles. He was in great distress. Ah, but he still holds this. In the shadow of thy wings, O God, will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. Now, is there not some comfort here also? Until these calamities be overpassed? I would not concentrate too much on this, but observe here.

They are only for a time. It may seem as though it is the whole of our lives sometimes. It may seem perhaps as though it is one thing after another as I mentioned before. It may seem in this life as though these things will not go away. There is a sense in which they will not in this life.

And yet, in this life, we may notice this, and we may observe so much as this, that generally speaking, by and large, calamities do pass. A trouble comes, a great problem, a great crisis happens to us. Perhaps there is something which we are terrified about, something which is shortly to happen, which we are fearing, which we are dreading. But the time comes, and the time passes. and the great, the crisis as it were, it passes or it is adverted or we pass through it and we come out the other side, so to speak. And yet, even if that were not to happen in this life, so often do we not find from time to time we are brought into a blessed place of relief from our troubles.

The Lord brings us out into a large and a wealthy place. He causes us to lie down beside green pastures We know the light of his love. We know his blessing upon us. And we rejoice when we have such times. It is a joy to us. And we revel in them. We delight in them.

But the best that we have in this life, the best that we enjoy in this life of spiritual rest, rest from temptation, rest from our enemies, it is nothing but a token, a little token. of the eternal rest of the soul. And therefore, we may look, indeed, for our troubles to be passed and for certain particular situations in our lives to be resolved. And yet we must always look beyond these things. We can't expect to have perfect peace In that sense, in this life, we may have perfect peace in our hearts if we would but keep our eyes fixed upon God. If our hearts might always to be fixed upon Him, we might have perfect peace.

And yet, because of our sins, we shall never know it as we shall know it in glory. But that is what we look to. We are but passing through in this world, pilgrims, strangers, passing through here. Because we have not here an abiding city, but we look for one to come. We look beyond this world. We look to eternity.

And all our sufferings here were we to suffer our whole lives in the service of Jesus Christ. Yet the glory which should be revealed would more than make up for all of it. And would be so much more the blessed. We should enjoy it so much the more for everything in this life. for all the calamities, until these calamities be overpassed.

He says, yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until that time. Ah, well, what shall it be at that time? Shall we forsake Christ as our refuge? No, but we shall be with him. We shall be with him, there in glory forever. With him personally, with him. Never to be parted with him. Never to know any distance. Never to know any breaking of the love. Always to be there with him.

These calamities, then, we find common in our lives. But observe in the second place, then, this refuge. Even now, whilst we are in this world, yes, troubles may befall us, but still we have a place to go. Yea, he says, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. We find him in the beginning of Psalm 46, as you know those words I'm sure so well. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. And yet we see here that this is no refuge of man's making up. No refuge of man's inventing. Man did not one day decide that he was going to have God as his refuge. No, he could not. Or if he did, it would be a very vain thought for him at best.

There are some people in this world, and I trust there are none of you who think in such a way as this, who just have some sort of confidence in God. which is more like a lucky charm than it is anything else. Those who just have some sort of blind faith in some sort of higher power, maybe they call it God, maybe they call it whatever, some blind faith in some higher power, who they believe looks after them whenever they're in trouble, gives them strength when they are passing through troubles, and who will make sure that they're all right. Well, those things, of course, a believer can say. And yet there is more to it than all this.

Because such a man may never have repented of his sins, who has this kind of blind faith. He may never have turned. He may never have seen Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. He may never have realized that he needed a savior. He just saw there were problems in the world, problems in his life. He needed something to help him through. And so he has this religion as a sort of a side. there for him when it is convenient, when he needs it, and then he takes it up. Ah, but his life is not Christ. Christ is not his life. Christ is not everything to him. No, but for such a man it's, well really, whether he has Christ or not is inconsequential. He has this God he has made in his own image, and this he trusts on, this he holds to, this he believes in, in a sense, and yet this God of his own making will never help him in the slightest.

But God has provided a refuge. He has provided a way to come into that refuge. And so he has made it a sure refuge and a certain refuge. It is the way of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ the same old way as has ever been set forth in the gospel. And even before gospel times, the prophets set forth this same glorious truth that they must come forth. It's in a darker fashion, of course, and yet the same truth that runs through the whole of the scriptures. In the shadow of thy wings, We find Christ himself, he takes up this picture if you like. The end of the gospel according to Matthew, we read it in chapter 23. He is standing there gazing out over the city of Jerusalem.

And he cries out with these words, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Well, this is the selfsame picture as we have here. The hen gathering her chickens under her wings to give to them shelter and refuge and safety, to protect them in every case of trouble. Well, there we see the heart of Christ in that passage from Matthew. His willingness is there presented to our view, and we may see from many other places there is no questioning his ability in this respect also.

His arms are open to those who are fleeing for refuge from the wrath of God, and yet his arms are open still to those fleeing from the troubles of life, who need some place as a refuge, who needs, above all else, to have a confidence which passes almost human understanding, to have something which would bring them through where nothing else would suffice, to bring them to hope in trouble. So often it is our failure to observe and to recognize these things that is our greatest problem, to fail to see God in everything. In our calamities, in our troubles, our failure to recognize the hand of God so often costs us We fall to fearing, to doubting, to worrying, to fretting over these things. These things, we might say, they're almost natural to us, almost second nature to do these things, to fall into these ways of thinking.

And therefore, we need always that God should be set before our eyes. not God's unapproachable impurity and holiness and glory, but the glory of God as it is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. That is what we need. We need God as we may come to him through Christ. We need God as we may have Christ as our refuge. We need so to come in this way, and by this means, by Christ, we may run to this place.

Observe here, in the title of this psalm, it says that it was written when he fled from Saul in the cave. Matthew Henry makes the connection here. David was fleeing from Saul and yet he was fleeing to God. He was fleeing for fear of Saul, for fear of his life being taken from him.

But he here is almost practically practicing that which he says here. He is fleeing into that refuge by his coming and bringing all these things and bearing them all up, bringing them before the almighty God and crying out, be merciful unto me, O God. And he continues there in that second verse, I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me.

God most high. He does not have hard thoughts of God because of his calamities. He has high thoughts of God in his calamities. And that is a wonderful thing that for all of his troubles yet He sees God as accessible. He may come and bring his pleas before the Lord. He sees God as one who will hear his cries, else he would make them all in vain. He comes to God most high, seated in the heavens, ruling over all. as God who is sovereign, God that performeth all things for me. And more than this, he views God as a saving God. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.

We read also in Psalm 18, David also writes there that he speaks of great distress that he was in. The sorrows of death compassed me. The floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. In my distress, in the sixth verse, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down. And darkness was under his feet and so forth.

He delivered me, verse 17, from my strong enemy. He sent from above, he took me and drew me out of many waters. There we have a very powerful and graphic demonstration of what the Lord can do. Sometimes, he is pleased to cause us to pass through deep waters for a time. It may seem as though he has forgotten us, he has forsaken us, he has left us there. And yet, in his time, when we call out to him, he will come, and he will not be slow. and he shall not leave it a moment too late. He will not leave us to drown, but he will come to save his people.

But see here again, we have the example of Christ in this respect to follow. See Christ in his, you might say, his darkest hour, when he is there upon the ground in Gethsemane, Turn your mind to this for a moment. There, surely, was the greatest calamity that human nature has ever experienced. There, surely, the greatest weight and burden of terror and wrath was shortly to come upon our dear savior.

What do we read of him there? He goes forth to the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. We read the account in the Gospel according to Luke, the 22nd chapter. He comes with his disciples. He exhorts them. He tells them something of his troubles as we read in the other accounts. He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed.

We may have relief from telling our troubles to one another, to sharing our burdens, and indeed it is our responsibility so to do. But all these things are in vain if we do not bring them where Christ took his troubles. We do not come to our heavenly Father through him. Why?

Let's see here. He comes there, as we read of him. He is kneeling upon the ground. He is praying. He is praying for the cup to be removed from him. He is praying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. But see his confidence, if you like, his resignation here. Nevertheless, not my well, but thine, be done. And what do we read in the very next verse?

And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. He had told his disciples of his troubles. He had tried to explain to them something of the purport of all that was about to happen to him. tried to impress upon them something of these things, but they had not understood. They could not grasp it in the same way. And yet he brings it to his father. He bears it before him, takes it upon him to pray in this way, resign to his will.

And there appears an angel from heaven to strengthen him. And shall we not be so strengthened, who so come to God through Christ, who now stands as our mediator, interceding for us day and night before his Father? Shall he not send us help in due time to deliver us out of our troubles and to help us through them? Well, surely he shall.

More than he shall, he must, for he has spoken it. He has no obligation to us, no obligation to do anything for us, except for that which he has bound himself to do. And what he has bound himself to do, he must do. Though it be all of mercy, though it be an act of pure grace and nothing but grace, what he has said he will do, he must accomplish. And so he shall perform it for us.

And so we find again the Apostle Paul as he is writing to the Philippian believers. He comes to them and he speaks to them concerning some who have troubled them. Some who would take them away from the truth. He comes in the beginning of chapter three. He comes to them and he exhorts them to rejoice in the Lord. He comes warning them those he describes as dogs of evil workers of the concision.

We are the circumcision, he says, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now observe here, we who are Christians, we who are in Christ, who have Christ as our saviour and who can speak of him in such a way of this, I am his and he is mine.

We who are in such a blessed state as this, such a blessed condition, we may have great comfort from our religion. We may have great comfort from this fact. I go beyond this. We may have great joy from this fact. It is the only reason that the apostle gives for the believers to be joyful.

They are in trouble in Philippi. He is in prison. He's not exactly in the brightest of cases. They're not. Ah, but he comes to them and this whole epistle, it is filled with joy. It seems as though his joy is running over and it is spilling over to exhortations to them to rejoice in the Lord. Because of their situation? No. Because of Christ. Because of what Christ has done. Because of this glorious salvation which is theirs. Because they have this interest in the almighty God of heaven. We cannot but rejoice at this.

Now, the more comfort we take in this, the more joy we seek to find in this, and I say, is this not very much taking refuge in Christ, in very fact? That we come and we place ourselves in him, and we think of him, and we think of all that we have through him. No confidence in the flesh. or confidence in Christ. Isn't this not what it is? To take refuge in him, to fly to the shelter of his wings, to hide under him, to hide in his precious bleeding side. We see it again.

He writes to them and there are so many portions to this intent which we might have here from the book of Philippians. And yet, he speaks to them in verse 14 of the second chapter. He says, do all things without murmurings and disputings. Now we could take this in a sense to be referring to unity of the church and relations amongst the people of God.

But may it not also refer to our state of heart as we pass through life? See what the children of Israel were like when they were passing through the wilderness. They were constantly murmuring against God. They were literally living from the manna done from heaven that he gave to them miraculously every day and still they murmured against God. And may we not be so stubborn sometimes as to have the same attitude, the same heart, the same mind, that we are neglectful of all that is ours and we are worried about the fact that we do not have all the temporal blessings and comforts that we want right now in this life?

No. Sometimes we make calamities for ourselves. Here is the way that we may not. We make ourselves to murmur. The old nature within us, still, striving against the nature of grace, desires things which are not necessary. Things which God determines it is best for us not to have. Things which we would be better without. Now to see all these things is beyond us by ourselves. It is beyond us if we have confidence in ourselves. It is beyond us if we rely on our own wisdom. It is beyond us if we merely look to our own rational, logical thoughts about things. Why?

The wisdom of men. The foolishness of God is wiser than. We speak carefully to speak of the foolishness of God. It is perfection. It is wisdom beyond degree. Far beyond what we can imagine or suppose. We think we are wise. We think we can work things out. We think we know what the Lord is doing with us. We think we know what the Lord would have us to do. We think that we can decide what we ought to do next.

We think that now we can just go on and the Lord will be with us whether we seek his face or not. What foolishness. We don't know the mind of God. We cannot tell the mind of God. We are fallen, we are corrupted, our minds are corrupted, our will is corrupted, our desires, in a sense, are not perfect.

But to see this, to have a sight of God, to be able to come to him in Christ, This must be our greatest joy and our greatest comfort in death's life. Oh, that it may be so for every one of us tonight, that we may indeed flee to this refuge, that we may agree with the psalmist upon his resolve. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. until these calamities be overpassed. Well, may the Lord grant that it may be so with every one of us. God is a refuge. It is sure and certain and it cannot fail. Let us take comfort there tonight and flee there in every distress and seek always to live near the heart of God. Well, may he bless these things himself, for Christ's sake. Amen.