In A Cave With God Most High

“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me”  – Psalm 57:2.  

Hurricane Michael. The Coronavirus. Unemployment. Racial divides. You would have to live in a cave to be insulated from all the trying and difficult challenges we face in the world today. That is exactly what David did. 

The title of Psalm 57 gives us the circumstances under which the psalm was written. Things are so desperate for David that he flees and hides in the cave of Adullam. So David is in a dark cave. He’s hungry and thirsty. He hasn’t slept for days. Perhaps from the opening of the cave, he can look out and see dust coming up over the horizon from Saul’s army. You would think that David’s focus would be on what he is going to do when Saul’s army arrives. But instead, David is focused on God. 

The last part of Psalm 57:1 is very comforting: “I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.” David has confidence that this “storm” he finds himself in will eventually blow over. He has to wait out the storm, and he can do so because he has sought refuge under the wings of God. During the troubling times, we too need to run to God and take cover under His wings. Trust in God and have faith that the troubles will pass. David said a similar thing in Psalm 27:13: “Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.”

The reason why David was able to keep his focus on God rather than on his danger may be found in v. 2: “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.” Why does David address God as “the God Most High?” Because David wants to impress upon us just how much authority God had over his life. The God David worshiped wasn’t a God who had authority over his life only when everything was going well. His God wasn’t a god that was somehow limited in authority, a god who had dominion over some aspects of David’s life, but when it came to a pursuing army, not so much.

By addressing God as “the God Most High”, David recognized that the God he worshiped is a God who has ultimate authority over heaven and earth. David knew that he could trust his life to the God Most High because God had ultimate authority over David’s life. David recognized God’s ability to protect him from a pursuing enemy.

How could David have had an attitude of unreserved praise toward God? Don’t forget, Saul’s army was in hot pursuit. David had experienced God’s faithfulness in the past, in both the good and the bad times, and David knew that the God Most High would be just as faithful to him there in the cave as He had been to David in the past.

How could I possibly focus on God when my mind is consumed by everything going on around me? When you recognize that the God you worship is the God Most High you recognize that God is just as faithful today as he had been to David, and he’s just as faithful today as he has been in your past as well.

Discussion Questions:

1. Where do you go when you need a safe place? What does it mean to dwell in the shelter of the most high? 

2. What can we do this week to trust God more and worry less?