Our Refuge and Our Rescuer

Day 11 – Our Refuge and Our Rescuer

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me
– Psalm 57:1-3

We have all been in situations that seem desperate. Maybe it is a bill that can’t be paid, a child who won’t take advice and is making bad decisions, a co-worker who is set on making your professional life miserable, an addiction that is ravaging your relationships, a parent who is sick and can’t get the breath they need to live. Fill in the blank with the hard situation you are facing. In Psalm 57, David retold a time when he was facing a desperate situation. He was a military hero who fell from the favor of the king and had become an outlaw on the run. In fact, the title of the psalm states that this is a psalm of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. David was taking refuge in a cave in order to hide from Saul who was seeking to kill him. Yet, David wrote in the psalm that it is actually in God that he took refuge. Physically speaking, it is true that the cave was giving David refuge from Saul, but David knows that it was actually under the shadow of God’s wings where he found refuge. David’s acknowledgment in verse one is a powerful reminder to us today. When we seek safety from our desperate situations, money, attention, vindication, wise-counsel and medicine are means in which we find refuge. However, if we aren’t also aware that it is God who is providing, upholding, sheltering, and caring for us in the desperate situation we are facing, we miss an opportunity to experience God’s love and to return praise to Him. 

The psalm continues, “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me” (v. 2). Long before David ends up on the run from King Saul, he was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. He knows who he is and who God has called him to be and so he can cry out to God because he has faith that God will fulfill the purpose God has for him—to become the king. When we face desperate situations, we need to remember that we are God’s children and have been given a purpose. God will not abandon you. He will rescue you and fulfill His purpose for you. You can be assured of this because of Jesus. He will send from heaven and save me (v. 3). David rested in the knowledge that God would come from His dwelling place and rescue him. We know today that God did just this in the person of Jesus. Jesus became one of us, taking on flesh, to rescue us in the midst of our desperation. As we walk with Jesus, God’s purposes for us will be fulfilled. 

As we spend this time fasting and seeking God’s face, may we know Jesus as our refuge and rescuer, and the one who fulfills our purpose. 

Dear God, we thank You for sending Your Son to rescue us and to show us the way to live so that Your purposes may be accomplished in our lives. Make us more like Your Son, we pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Laurel Copp
Ministry Fellow, Christian Union Libertas (Brown University)