Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to Psalm 57. Psalm 57 and verse 1, the first verse. 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. Psalm 57 and verse 1. We are told over the top of this psalm the occasion when this psalm was written. It was when David fled from Saul in the cave. That is no doubt at this time the cave Adulam. But there is two occasions and we of course read the second psalm as well, Psalm 142. which was a prayer when he was in the cave. And on what occasion, whether that was the same occasion or another one, we don't know, but in 1 Samuel chapter 22, we have the record in those first few verses, how that David departed from Achish, and this is when he found himself mad because They had recognized him as the one that had slain Goliath. His life was in danger. He made out he was mad and fled from his presence. So we read there, David departed thence and escaped to the cave of Dullam. And when his brethren in all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them. And so at that time it had been a great distress and we read in Psalm 34 as well, which was written at this time, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. And it was indeed when his life was in danger, they could easily have taken and killed him then. But then we have a couple of chapters later on in chapter 24 when Samuel, when Saul was pursuing after David again and they came into a cave and David's men were in the sides of the cave. This is the occasion when David cut off the skirt of Saul to prove how close he'd got to him. He could have slain him, but he didn't. and then called after Saul afterwards. So David had many times that his life was in danger and often that was very suddenly. So in the words of our text we have what is going on in his soul and how he is praying at this time. I've said many times here that with the Psalms especially where we know when they were written, they show what is going on within. Outwardly is one thing, and people see that outward walk and outward trials and afflictions, but what they don't see is how it is having effect in our prayers, our cries to the Lord, and what goes on within. This is what we term the Christian experience, experiential religion. It is that which the outward walk is reflected in much that goes on within. There's searchings of heart, there's confessions, there's prayers, there's pleas for help, there's thanksgivings, there's hopes, there's expectations. The soul of the Lord's people is very much exercised with what they go through and the things that they come into, especially when they are described as here, these calamities and troubles and trials. The Lord's people are said to be chosen in the midst of infirmity, in the midst of affliction. I've chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. the Lord's people he shall bring the third part through the fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is and the disciples they echoed our Lord's words that he must through much tribulation enter the kingdom And man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. So such a prayer as this, we know it won't be unique. The calamities, the troubles, the trials of God's people, they won't be just unique to David. They will be known by all the people of God and they'll know In addition, those persecutions and trials that they have, as our Lord said, they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So the words of our text, 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. I want to look at this evening with the Lord's help. Firstly, a time of calamities. And then secondly, even even for a soul trusting in the Lord. And then thirdly, the action of a soul trusting in the Lord, that is especially under these calamities. Firstly, a time of calamities. We could ask, well what does it mean? a calamity. The dictionary description is an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress, a disaster really. And here David, he says, until these calamities be overpassed. There are several things implied here. He doesn't say until this calamity be overpassed. How often it is, the hymn writer says, when united trials meet, will show a path of safe retreat. Often there are those things that cause distress, whether they could be turned to disaster or not, but they are multiplied one after another. You think of how it was with dear Job when he had one messenger after another coming with evil tidings. those things that were done to his goods, his property, his families, and they were multiplied one after another. So the very words of the text, it is implying this, is not speaking of one calamity, we might think of an earthquake, or tsunami. You might think of the hurricane that we had in this land in 1987 as one event. But here we have it spoken in plural. And you might say with David, well, it's one event. He's fleeing from Saul. But that's not really the only event. He's in danger of his life with the Philistines. He's away from his home. He's fleeing from his home. All of these things, they are adding up as a number of calamities. The other thing to notice here, there is a time limit expected He's expecting that these calamities won't go on and on and on. That there will come a time when they're overpassed. He's passed them. Until these calamities be overpassed. And it's a good thing to remember that, especially when we're entering into calamities, we see things that just completely rock us, completely throw us about, and how easy it is to think that that is the end, it will never get better, we'll never recover, we'll never rise again. But the implication, the word of the Lord here is, they will be overpassed. And we know in the history of the world the many large things that have happened as well as those small things and yet nevertheless severe in the lives of those in this world, there has been a conclusion to them. May that be a ray of hope to one in the midst of calamities at this time, in the midst of troubles and of trials, that there will be a time when they're over, when they're past. You might say, well, is not the word saying that David is going to be trusting in the Lord and in the shadow of his wings and making a refuge there just until these calamities be over past? Now in one sense, say if we had a deluge of rain and we were seeking a place of refuge so that we weren't completely drowned or drenched, as soon as that rain stopped then we'd come out of that refuge. In that we only need that refuge while it is so, but for the psalmist, for David, for any of the Lord's people, to say, well, the only time that I will make my refuge in the Lord is when I have troubles in this life, calamities, and then we won't seek the Lord. There are many that are like that. While there is trouble, then they'll pray. As soon as that trouble's taken away, they don't pray, and they don't remember to give thanks either. But we can't believe that David, a man after God's own heart, had such a religion that was only with the Lord when he needed some help, and then other times he could just as well do without the Lord. So I believe the right way of looking at the word is that this is how he will, and we'll look at this later on, how he will act all the while these calamities. There won't be a time that he's going to despair, he's going to give up, he's going to cast away his hope, or that he won't have refuge just when he needs it. There is then a limiting. We read of the children of Israel in the wilderness, especially when they were at Mount Sinai. You had to dwell long enough in this mount and then they had to move on. All of the signs and wonders in Egypt, they came to an end at last. Their wilderness journey came to an end at last. They were brought up from the wilderness. and brought into Canaan, and we read in the Word, surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. My times are in thy hand, times of sickness and times of health, times of trial, times of relief from those trials. They that have no changes fear not God. But we know that in this world, that is under the curse, where sin and death reigns, there will be sorrow, there will be calamities while the earth remains. And there is then a time, a time of calamities. But I want to look secondly at the truth that there is even a time of calamities for a soul trusting in the Lord. Sometimes Satan might really tempt and he says, well if you are really trusting in the Lord, then you will not have these sudden, unexpected trials and calamities and tribulations. But the Word of God shows that that is not the case. How often we can have ideas of how the Lord protects his people, We might think with Peter, when the Lord said, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, that his prayer had failed when he denied his Lord and Master those three times. But the Lord had not prayed that Peter be not left to deny him. He prayed that his faith would not fail. And when Peter came out of that trial that was very shameful, humiliating to him, then he still believed. He still loved the Lord. He hadn't cast away his hope, though he'd reeled to and fro. Yet he comes out the end of it. Yea, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. And so we might pray for the Lord's protection. We might say we are a soul that trusts in the Lord. We trust our lives to Him. We trust our protection to Him. And yet even in our lives, as we are trusting Him, we will come into calamities. and into things that we might think, well, why did not the Lord keep us from this? We mentioned Job. We read that Job was an upright man, he feared God. But Satan, he accused Job, he said, doth Job fear God for naught? Have you not put a hedge around about him? Doesn't he just serve you because you have protected him? And Satan said, well, you just touch all what he has now and he'll turn around and he'll curse you to your face. In other words, Satan is saying here is a soul that's trusting in thee. and thou hast protected him and hedged him around every way, but you take away that hedge, you bring him into some calamity, and he'll turn round and he'll curse thee. And there are countless millions that that would be very true of, and Satan knew that. But where the Lord is the keeper of the souls of his people, Where they know and love him, their language is, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. And Job, after all of those things happened to him, you can read them all in the first couple of chapters in Job. Firstly, all out within his family, in his house, his goods, his flocks, his herds. his servants, his children. And then later on, in his own body, in being afflicted, and Job, he says, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And we read that in all this, that Job sinned not with his lips, And so we are reminded, and in the words of our text here, is one that trusts in the Lord that then has calamities. And especially with the definition of a calamity that comes suddenly, if that is our lot, if that is appointed, maybe remember. Remember this verse, remember this word, and that when Satan comes in like a flood, We remember that those that trust in the Lord still sometimes are caused like the three Hebrew children to go into the fire that Nebuchadnezzar had made seven times hotter. Sometimes like Daniel, they're still caused though they trust in the Lord and they pray to the Lord three times a day, yet still they are not delivered out of the hand of those that hate them, and they must go into the lion's den. Or if they be like Joseph, must still be treated as he was by his brothers, and falsely accused by his master's wife, and cast into prison, and forgotten by the butler, and have the word of the Lord so trying him, Those that trust in the Lord have that trust tested and tried, that the Lord knows what He is doing, that He knows that He is able to give grace and help and strength in the midst of adverse, difficult and trying circumstances. that cause many to cast away their faith and to say they have nothing more to do with the Lord. It is good for us to be well grounded in this truth, to realise that a belief in God, a trust in God, is not, as it were, an insurance policy to say that we will never get ill, we'll never have things go very badly wrong, we'll never have bereavements and losses and crosses and sorrows. The Lord does not say to his dear people that they're exempted from that. But they may trust that whatever he does, Romans 8, 28 stands true. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. And Joseph later on was able to say to his brothers, you sent me not hither but God to save your lives by great deliverance. The psalmist at one time says, it was good for me that I was afflicted, before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. That looking back and seeing that the Lord has made it work together for good. By the entrance into it, by not to, with ourselves or with others, Job's friends were like that. They sympathised with him first, but afterward, when the trial went on longer than they thought it should, then they made out there must have been some reason, there must have been some cause in Job why these things had befallen him. We need to be very careful when we view others, the Lord's people, that we then don't imply that if they really had trusted the Lord they would not be sick, or if they really had trusted the Lord then these things would not have happened to them. The message of this verse, the message that David would speak to us and to all that come into a path of calamities and trials is how we actually act in them. How we react, how we pass through those trials. The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. And Peter in his epistles The first epistle, he says, for a season, where he speaks of rejoicing with faith of that salvation ready to be revealed in the last day, wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season. Again, we have the time factor set before us, if need be, the reason for it. ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, again calamities, not just one, but manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And so it is the path of calamities and trials, how they vary, how different they are. You know, when David had his son Absalom conspire and turn against him, then that was added to by saying that Ahithophel is also with the conspirators. Another twist, as it were, of the arrow, the dagger in him that was hurting. We can have it as well, can't we? Men rise up against us. And then when we hear about that, then we hear that others are joining with them, we think, what, that person? Thought we could have trusted them. Those things that come that hurt, that cast us down, that try our faith, that would bring us to despair. They vary in many, many different ways. Sometimes you might even not realize what it is that has so laid us low. We think of those psalms, Psalm 42, And 43, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God. And what were some of those trials in Psalm 42? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me. While they say daily unto me, where is thy God? Another added trial for the people of God, where people are saying, well, where is your God now? Where is your help in the situation you're in? Some trials might be, indeed, very long duration of many years, but still be overpassed. Some of those trials that may be at the very start are very severe, very sudden, very piercing, and yet as time goes on they may dull slightly. Those things that revive them and the pain and the sorrow is felt again and again. So may we be encouraged in what is our calamities, our troubles, our trials at this present time. But here is one that trusts in the Lord, and even for them. And we can name the Davids, the Daniels, the saints of God that have walked this path before us. We want to then notice in the third place the actions of a soul trusting in the Lord. It is actually in the calamities in this time. How do we act? How do we continue? when we have calamities? Well, David tells us two things, two things that he did. First, it is to pray, and especially it is to pray for mercy. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. Now, we might say, well, if there's one that is trusting into the Lord, would he not be saying to the Lord, Lord, I have trusted in thee. Why have these things come to pass? And maybe we do have questions and do lay these before the Lord, but here is one that is asking for mercy and is implying this, that he knows he has no works to plead. He knows he has no right in himself of not having these troubles. and afflictions. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. But one that really knows, they deserve nothing out of a deserved hell. How many, many in this life, when they have troubles, say, I didn't deserve that. I'm a good person. I'm a good man. I'm a good woman. This shouldn't have happened to me. That is a very, very different reaction to what David is. He's in effect saying, all of my works, I can't plead one of them. All I can plead is mercy. No doubt in this, when he prays in such a manner, There is set before his face his sins, his iniquities, what he deserves. Do our troubles bring our sin to remembrance? Do they humble us? Do they lay us low? Do they bring us to seek for mercy at such a time? You might say, well, David is just asking that the Lord would deliver him out of these troubles and be kind to him. No, he's seeking for mercy. Mercy can never be deserved. And I believe it is not just to get out of the trouble, but to have the Lord's blessing in it. We know the mercy of the Lord is so different than man's mercy. And this is what goes on after. He says, I will cry unto God most high that performeth all things for me. And then at the end of verse three, God shall send forth not mercy and truth, but his mercy and truth. And that points to the Lord, that points to the Redeemer, that points to the mercy through blood, that points to the truth of God in the Gospel. The Lord said, if ye continue in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed. He shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free. And the mercy, how God could be mercy. In verse 10, for thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds. He is pointing to the gospel and the mercy through the blood of the Lamb of God, his greatest Son that should come. that should put away his sin and blot out his transgressions. That is what he's pointing to. If the Lord has chosen his people in the furnace of affliction, it will be in affliction that they are brought to look not just for temporal helps and deliverances, but for the greatness of salvation. If the Lord would reprove those that he fed with the loaves and the fishes because they only followed him for that, and didn't see that he was the eternal son of God that should come into the world, that should save his people from their sins. What a solemn thing, if we look to the Lord and we only know him as one that supplies temporal needs, come under that condemnation, as Paul says, in this life only, having hope in Christ. One of the dying thieves, he said, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us, come down from the cross. And some will say this, if thou art really God, save me from this trouble, bring me out of this trouble, preserve me from getting into troubles even. But it's a blessed thing if we can look past and think, well, one day all the troubles of this world shall be past, but what about my soul? What about my sins? What about forgiveness? What about pardon? What about hope for heaven in the precious blood of the Lamb of God, the Redeemer, who shall save His people from their sins? What about that robe of righteousness that I so need to stand before God's throne at the last day? Are we coming so short in our troubles as to just look For as it were, quick fixes are not regarding the need of our soul. The cry for mercy, in one sense we could say, well it covers both because it's twice, isn't it? Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. We could say, be merciful unto me in this present trial and these things I'm going through, be merciful unto me in my soul, and fraternity, that the mercy cover both sides of it. Our Lord said to the man that was sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee. And those round about, they had argument against that. They said, how can this man forgive sins? Who can forgive sins but God only? Our Lord said, that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the pole seat, take up thy bed and walk. And he did. And so the Lord had mercy on him, had mercy on his soul, forgave his sins, had mercy on his body and raised him up again. So David prays twice in this, and he's seeking for mercy. May it be the same, whatever is our trouble, our trials, our calamities, denied or what we may come into in the Lord's sovereign will, that our first thought is this. This is not because I do not trust in the Lord. But if I do trust in the Lord, Then may my first path be, and my path be all the time this calamity is with me. And not just then, but continually, my cry for mercy. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. So that is the first action of a soul trusting in the Lord, passing through these calamities. The second is this, taking refuge in God. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. We think of the illustration here is like a hen that has chicks If there's a sudden danger, a sudden alarm, then she will cluck, they will all run, they'll run under her feathers. You won't see them, all you'll see is the hen, her feathers, her wings covering them. It is protection, it is hiding. This is the illustration that's here. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. What are the wings of God? Not literal, of course. but that which the people of God hide under is His covenant promises, is His love, His everlasting love of His people. It is His power, His might, His ability to save unto the uttermost, His wisdom, His judgment in the matter, His understanding in the matter, We rest in Him, we rest our all in Him. We sing it in our last hymn, Mother Refuge, have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee. Are those promises of the Lord that we hang upon, that He has promised, that I am with Thee always, and to the end of the world. The Lord has promised that he will not lay upon man more than that is right. And as he said to the Apostle Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. The Lord has promised that you'll be with us in six troubles, yea, in seven. that he would not forsake his people in their trials and in their troubles. Yea, I am with thee, says the hymn writer, Israel passing through the fire. speaking in verse of the beautiful words in Isaiah. Though thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. They shall not overflow thee. The great promises of the word of God for his people, that he shall be a shelter and a refuge, a shadow of a great rock in a weary land, This is what the psalmist has respect to here, and what he rests in and shelter in. In one sense, Peter, when he was brought out of his calamity and trial, and the Lord asked him those three times, love us thou may, he sheltered beneath these wings, Lord thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee. And maybe with you, maybe with me tonight, that we need to have respect unto the protection, the care, the shelter, the hiding place in our Lord. And we rest there, we hide there, we commit all unto the Lord. To whom else can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. In whatever troubles and trials that may come upon us, have we another refuge? Have we another place to go? Or is it thy word that I have rested on shall help my heaviest hours? As then we plead the promise, thou saidst, I will surely do thee good. And we plead the precious word of God. The Lord will have his people put them, put him in remembrance as to who he is. Now Moses did that in the wilderness and the Lord turned away his wrath from his people. He remembered they were his people and he had mercy on them. What then a path for those that trust in the Lord. They pray, they plead for mercy, and they take refuge in God. The very opposite than what Satan would tempt to. To forsake the Lord, to not trust him anymore. Say, well look, this is your trust, and look where you've come into. The way of this verse is completely the opposite. David is thrown more on the Lord. He has a refuge, He has a hiding place, He has a God who can show mercy and yet still be just and righteous and holy too. And may this then be our path as we know that in more or less way, whether we are in those calamities and maybe long-running ones tonight, all those things that shall yet come upon us. May we remember this pattern and this way that one that truly trusted in the Lord took in his prayers and in his making a refuge in his God. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.