One of Concordia Seminary’s most important partnerships is our prayer partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries. LHM receives calls from thousands of people who desire prayers. Many of those prayer requests are sent to the Seminary where we pray to God for those in need.
David was in deep trouble. King Saul was in a murderous rage because of young David’s military success and popularity. “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 21:11). Time and again David fled and hid to save his life. Did he ask for intercessory prayers? 1 Samuel 22:1-2 suggests he may have, since supporters had come to him hiding in a cave, but David certainly prayed for himself. Tradition says David composed Psalm 57 in that cave.
“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” (1-2). “In the shadow of your wings” is appropriate in a cave. Do you have this experience? I wake up in the middle of the night and fear floods my mind, fear of this or fear of that. “In the shadow of your wings” is appropriate in that darkness. “When in the night I sleepless lie, / My soul with heav’nly thoughts supply; Let no ill dreams disturb my rest, / No pow’rs of darkness me molest” (Lutheran Service Book, 883, 5).
David teaches us to look to the future when we pray. “In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” As the old saying goes, “This too will pass.” “For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). Whether for ourselves or interceding for others, pray with confidence. “God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!” (Psalm 57:3).
“When life’s troubles rise to meet me, / Though their weight / May be great, / They will not defeat me.
God, my loving Savior, sends them; / He who knows / All my woes/ Knows how best to end them.”
(LSB 756)
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