I will call unto God, the Most High; unto God that performeth [all] for me.
David wrote this psalm while hiding in a cave from King Saul, hunted and cut off from every human protection. From that place he does not describe his danger to God. He names what God is: the Most High, the One who carries things through for him.
The psalm's title places it in the hardest stretch of David's life. Writers note that the pressure and the confidence rose together.
Psalms 57, 63 and 142 date, by their titles, from about this time — a time of intense danger, yet of unequalled blessing, for David. Saul's forces had grown far larger, and he was more determined than ever to hunt down his prey and destroy him... Yet, however much his enemies raged, David was never more aware of the vast reach of the power of the Most High God. He had never depended on Him so simply for protection.
The name David reaches for is not a general word for God. It carries the idea of supremacy, and it points on to a day when God is displayed as supreme.
I have been looking into the force of the Hebrew words for Most High. In the end it clearly refers to God in the millennium, displayed then as the supreme God, to the exclusion of what is false. This is the force of the word: One who holds the place of the one true God, above all others and to their exclusion, exalted as supreme in government... He is supreme, and has taken all things into His possession.
The Hebrew behind the verse holds more than one name for God. One writer names them, and what each carries:
He appeals to Elohim, "Elion" — the millennial name of Him who is supreme in government and blessing. Then he appeals to "El," the Strength of holiness in supremacy over evil.
The ESV reads "who fulfills his purpose for me." Older translations put it "who performs all things for me." One writer points to a French rendering of the phrase, and to what it freed David from.
He knows that "God... performs all things for him" [The French says: "brings to a good conclusion"]. His faith already takes hold of the deliverance that is coming... Prepared in this way, he does not seek to avenge himself, but he commits himself to Him who has said: "Vengeance is mine... says the Lord."
Once the outcome is God's business, the result is not just safety but rest of mind.
How sweet, then, to hand yourself over to a Love so able: "I cry to God Most High, to the Mighty One who accomplishes for me." Where He has charge of all one's concerns, how surely will they all prosper. How deep may be the peace that follows.
Nothing had yet changed in David's circumstances when he said this. And the ground of his appeal was not his own record.
David does not appeal to God on the ground of his integrity, but on that of God's mercy (v. 1), for he trusts in God, and this is the one real claim on such mercy. In effect he sees himself as a helpless chick sheltering under the mother hen's wings, because great danger threatens. But he counts also on such troubles passing. So his prayer is "to God Most High." His greatness is far above the power of the enemy, and He will perform all things for him (v. 2). How good to have such calm confidence of faith at the very time the evil threatens!
The words were not left in the cave. One writer sets them before anyone who feels unequal to the path God has marked out.
Let him set this path before himself. Let him remember these words for encouragement: "I will cry to God Most High; to God who performs all things for me" (Psalm 57:2), and this also, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). The answer to our helplessness is His strength, which is made perfect in weakness. In Him, then, we may rest with confidence, for He is able to keep us from falling.
- Cave — the psalm comes from David's most dangerous stretch under Saul's pursuit. He had never been more aware of the reach of the Most High, or more dependent on Him.
- Cry — he appeals not to his own integrity but to God's mercy, and does it while the danger is still standing over him.
- Most High — the title means supremacy. He is the one true God, exalted in government, who has taken all things into His own possession.
- Performs — God does not just begin what concerns him. One rendering has it that He brings the matter to a good conclusion.
- Peace — God has charge of everything, so David stops avenging himself and rests. The same words stand for any reader whose helplessness meets His strength.
He will send from the heavens and save me; he hath covered with reproach him that would swallow me up. Selah. God hath sent forth his loving-kindness and his truth.
David wrote this while hiding in a cave, hunted by a king who wanted him dead. From that hole in the ground he says God will reach down from heaven for him. The verse names two things God sends. Older translations call them "mercy and truth," or "loving-kindness and truth," where the ESV reads "steadfast love and faithfulness." So what does each one do, and for whom?
David looks in one direction only. One writer notes where the help comes from, and what it does to the man chasing him.
"He shall send from heaven and save me." From the place of highest authority and power God delights to send His salvation. God's very actions would be a reproach to the persecutor (v. 3). Notice that David does not even mention Saul's name. All through his dealings with Saul he showed deep respect for Saul's position as king.
Another writer compares this psalm with the one before it and finds one difference.
In Psalm 57, it is the shadow of God's wings, and from there God's sending even from heaven to save Him. This enlarges the sphere; otherwise these two Psalms run in the same stream of thought.
Mercy and truth are not two words for the same thing. Each has its own work, and its own object.
God will send from the heavens and save the godly man, while covering with reproach those that seek his life. God will send forth His mercy to deliver the godly; His truth to deal with the wicked. His judgment will be according to truth.
The same pair returns at the end of the psalm, measured against the sky. One writer draws out what each picture says.
"For Your mercy reaches to the heavens, and Your truth to the clouds" (v. 10). The mercy that has no limit is wonderful, and the heavens themselves bear witness to how all-embracing it is. Clouds speak of a certain dimness. The pure truth of God clears that dimness away, and makes His Word plain to those who trust Him.
Elsewhere the psalms ask God to send these things. Here the verb has changed: the ESV reads "will send out," while other translations read "has sent forth." One writer sets the two psalms side by side.
Compare Psalm 57 with Psalms 42 and 43. There the prayer is, "Send out your light and your truth" (v. 3). In Psalm 57:3, he says, "God has sent forth His loving-kindness and His truth."
That confidence changes how David treats the man hunting him.
His faith already takes hold of the deliverance that is coming... This settles his heart (v. 7). It leads him to put himself completely into the hands of Him who "has sent forth His loving-kindness and His truth" to save him. Prepared in this way, he does not seek to avenge himself, but he commits himself to Him who has said: "Vengeance is mine... says the Lord."
One writer reads the verse as reaching far past David's cave, and names who is sent.
"God shall send forth His mercy and His truth." The expectant heir of salvation, and the discouraged outcast of Israel alike wait for this. He shall send Jesus, when the times of refreshing have fully come, which will cause Israel to blossom and bud again, and to fill the face of the world with fruit. Meanwhile the Christian lives among the ripening evils of the last days, and God keeps him expecting the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Till then his calling is to suffer, but with joy, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation.
The cave is not only David's. One writer traces the whole psalm onto the believer's own path of trouble.
"The love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" is the key to everything we meet along the way. Divine power is there. "God performs all things for me" (v. 2), and that even when we were still without strength; for then it was that Christ died for the ungodly. A heavenly deliverance too is ours: "He shall send from heaven and save." In the wilderness we are cast out, as David was when he fled from Saul in the cave, his "soul among lions"; but God is exalted above the heavens. Therefore we can praise.
- Sent — the direction of help is fixed: not sideways to allies, but down from heaven, "from the place of highest authority and power."
- Mercy — the first gift goes to the hunted man. God sends His mercy "to deliver the godly."
- Truth — the second gift goes to the hunter. God sends His truth "to deal with the wicked," and His judgment is according to truth.
- Already — other psalms pray "send out your light and your truth." This one says God has sent. Faith takes hold of the rescue before it arrives.
- Therefore — a man that sure of God stops taking revenge, hands his case to Him, and praises while still in the cave.