Let Your Glory Be Over All the Earth

As preached by John Keller.

1) Disaster leads to prayer.

2) Prayer leads to salvation.

3) Salvation leads to praise.

Prayer

Father, we ask that you would be known through the preaching of your Word. We ask that you would make plain for us the truth that our hearts need today. Whether we are high in our spirit, whether we are low in our hearts, we ask that you would speak to us. Jesus, God’s anointed one, we thank you for your mediation on our behalf. Without you our prayers would be ineffective and futile. Help us to pray as you pray. Teach us your ways O Lord. Holy Spirit, you comfort us in sorrows and strengthen our voices in praise. You are our teacher and our guide. Please shape us today in the likeness of our Savior. Please help me preach these inspired words from David as you led him to write this long ago. Stir our affections and still our hearts. Help us to love. Please do a great work within us.

Amen

Introduction

We live in a privileged and blessed society. We take for granted the power that gives us light and warmth in our homes. We do not think about the foundations deep within the ground that make our buildings sure. We have it so good that we, as a form of relaxation, go into the wilderness and spend a night or two “camping” before snuggling back into our soft, plush beds. Don’t get me wrong, I myself enjoy camping, but this is a relatively new phenomenon. For thousands of years, leaving your home and sleeping in the wild was done out of necessity, not out of luxury or for entertainment. Often disaster would be the driving factor, forcing people to flee and live in the wilderness until they could make or find a new shelter.

Right now there are multiple global conflicts where families are regularly displaced by violence. Every year, thousands of homes are flooded or destroyed by storms and hurricanes. Recently wildfires in LA destroyed acres upon acres of property as fires raged for days. Even this week an earthquake in Burma has killed hundreds of people in multiple countries.

But not all disasters lead to death. Every day, a car accident sends someone to the hospital for long term care. Every week a corporation terminates an unexpecting employee. We do not know when disasters will strike, but when they reach us, we often find ourselves on the run emotionally, physically, or even spiritually. These events take away our comfort and peace and we are left in the wild.

That is the context we find for Psalm 57. David is writing of his time on the run from Saul and camping out in a cave. His wife, his house, and his possessions have all been abandoned as David flees for his life. All he has is God’s promise that he will be the next king of Israel. Can that promise be enough in the face of such disaster and betrayal? If it is, then how does David guide us today when we face disasters ourselves? I believe that is a large part of why David wrote this song and gave it to the choirmaster: that is, to lead us to God in the face of trouble.

David gives us Psalm 57 as a roadmap on how to navigate suffering and calamity. What should you do when you are on the run and hiding in a cave? How should you turn to God when disaster is not just at your door, but barrelling through, uninvited? The first step is to go to God in prayer, reflecting on how God has kept his promises in the past. We see several hints in David’s words that he is looking back at Joseph and the Exodus in how God kept his word. Next, as we pray we find assurance of our refuge and salvation in God. We pray not just for ourselves but for others in need of God’s deliverance. Finally, this salvation leads to public worship to God among all the peoples. We praise God because of who He is and what He has done.

That roadmap will be our three points this morning. First, Disaster Leads to Prayer. Second, Prayer Leads to Salvation. Third, Salvation Leads to Praise.

Disaster Leads to Prayer

When you are in pain, whom do you cry out to? My kids love to play outside. Eventually, but not always, one of them will fall down or hurt themselves. Immediately, they start calling for mommy or daddy even if they don’t know where we are. The pain guides them to search us out. Their pain takes them to their source of comfort and security. If my son were to cry out for Dog-Man after scraping his knee or one of my daughters were to call for Princess Peach when a sister steals a toy from her, that is not a normal response. It is actually a sign of dysfunction because those things are not real and have no power to help them.

Pain is also a guidestone for us. When your roof starts to collapse or your basement begins to flood, where do you turn? When you are told your mother is in the ER, what is your first thought? Is it to cry out to God or take pragmatic steps?

If we are not careful, we can fall into our western culture’s view that God helps those who help themselves. Or that prayer is only as helpful as the actions you take after. The world would say, at best, prayer is just a fancy, religious form of meditation that cannot change the world around you, but only shape the soul within you. At worst, the world would say that prayer is a dysfunctional response to a crisis because there is nothing there to actually help you.

Here is a story that helps contrast the world’s view of prayer with the Bible’s view. My mother cuts hair for a living and she has all kinds of regular clients. One of them is a vocal atheist and shared with her how he stayed at an AirBNB on a trip. The first night, one of the host’s car horns goes off without relief for almost an hour. He asked them about it the next day and they said that it had been going on for a week but they were praying God would fix it. He scoffs at this and tells him he works on cars a little and fixes it that very day. He shared this story as a joke, even though he knows my mom is a Christian. He had a very low view of God and of praying until my mom pointed out that the Lord used him to answer this old couple’s prayer. God did indeed answer their prayer to fix their car. The atheist didn’t know what to think about that.

For some, the world’s view on prayer sounds crazy because you regularly pray and have seen the Lord answer prayers this very week. To you, I exhort you to continue your efforts in prayer and to be vocal in how you are praying for others. Call them! Text them! Send them a voice message of what you are praying. Share with your small group how God is answering your prayers so that you may praise him together.

For others, you may find yourself in a season of prayerlessness. Your life has fallen into the rhythms of the world in how you respond to pain and problems. You may eventually turn to the Lord, but it takes effort and you don’t expect much when you do pray. If that is you, the Lord is calling you to repent. You are believing a lie about who God is and what God does. As we will see in our text, our God is a God who answers prayers.

Our moments of disaster force us to respond. It is an opportunity to go to God, or to go to something else.

So what was David’s pain here? Why is he turning to the Lord? In the text of Psalm 57, we see reference to a storm of destruction in v. 1. We see David being trampled upon in v. 3. In v. 4 we see David compare his situation to laying down among lions and fiery beasts (aka dragons). These creatures represent David’s enemies with their fierce words. Finally, in v. 6 we see these enemies lay a trap for David, hoping it leads to his demise.

A turbulent storm, physical assault, vicious words, and hidden pits. These are the ways David describes his disaster. So what was happening to David? In addition to the superscription, its proximity to Psalm 56, which is about his time with the Philistines after first fleeing Saul, it is reasonable to conclude that Psalm 57 focuses on a similar timeframe. That is, David is thinking of everything that happened from when his wife alerted him of Saul’s betrayal and to when he hid alone in the cave.

In 1 Samuel 21, we see the escape David makes as he finds help and refuge in various places. First he goes to Ahimelech the High Priest in the city of Nob. He leaves with Goliath’s sword and heads to Gath, a city of the Philistines. However, some recognize him as he speaks with their king. David feigns insanity and flees to a cave, alone. This stop in the cave concludes his journey, where 1 Samuel 22:1-2 says:

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. (ESV)

This is the sorrow, the pain, and the disaster David reflects on as he writes this Psalm. He reflects on the betrayal of Saul and his panicked escape. After his failed turn to the Philistines, his last resort is to turn to God and his mercy.

How does David go to God? During this trial, David is given supplies, a means to defend himself, and grace when he turns to God’s enemies for help. None of that directly comes up in this Psalm. Instead, David is focusing on his heart. David begins by crying for mercy and refuge. He made a mistake going to Gath and is repenting.

David’s prayer then references a few unique things. First, he says he will take refuge in the wings of God. At first glance, this may seem to be a poetic flourish that David is using to talk about how safe he is in God. However, wings is not a common word used in conjunction with God. God’s angels and Seraphim have wings and those are referred to, but not God. God is Spirit, he does not have hands, or wings, or a mouth. Such language when applied to God is an analogy for us to understand who he is and what he is about. But why wings? Look with me in Exodus 19 as the people of Israel have arrived at Mount Sinai with Moses. Here Moses writes in Exodus 19:3-5:

while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (ESV)

Here is God himself referring to his act of salvation through the Exodus of Egypt (that is the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army) in terms of bearing them on eagle’s wings. Turning to the wings of God is another way of saying that you are turning to His means of salvation as God brings you to Himself. God did not literally put Israel on birds and fly them across the Red Sea and straight to Mt. Sinai. But that is how He describes what he did for them. And this description of God's wings as a form of salvation and refuge continued afterwards in the time of the judges. Look at Ruth 2:11-12:

But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” (ESV)

Taking refuge under God’s wings means you are turning to him and him alone. You are not relying on anything else. David tried other means in his escape from Saul and failed. This is his way of repenting and declaring to God where his hope is.

Second, David references God’s steadfast love in vv. 3 and 10. This word appears a lot in the Old Testament but is used in reference to God being with Joseph when he is sent to prison in Egypt in Gen. 37 and used again as the people of Israel sing praises to God for parting the Red Sea and destroying Pharaoh and his armies in Exodus 15. God’s steadfast love is why we can pray to Him. He is always faithful, no matter the circumstance, no matter the pain we face. We can always go to Him in prayer.

And when we pray and think about who God is and what he has done, we should see salvation. This leads to our second point.

Prayer Leads to Salvation

After David prays to God, we see a new confidence in how he looks at his problems.

God is the one who fulfills His purpose in David and God will send help from heaven and will shame the attackers of him in v. 3. He will send out his steadfast love and faithfulness. David’s enemies fall into their own trap in v. 6. David’s heart is now steadfast as he thinks of God's salvation.

When we pray for salvation, we should think about how God has saved people in the past. There are numerous accounts of prayer leading to salvation from the Lord. I want to highlight a few for us so that you may store these in your heart when disaster strikes.

Hezekiah, King of Judah

2 Kings 20:1–6

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” (ESV)

Here king Hezekiah prays for himself and the Lord heals him. He appeals to his own righteousness, but God mentions nothing of it. He only mentions His own sake and for the sake of his covenant with David. Praying to God for salvation is not about magical words to utter to manipulate God, it is about turning to God with your whole heart and depending on His faithfulness.

Nineveh, a pagan city and enemies to God’s people. The king of Nineveh calls the whole city to prayer

Jonah 3:7–10

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (ESV)

God showed grace to those wicked, pagan people who cried out to him and repented from their evil ways. Real actions accompanied their prayers, but their actions were grounded and sourced in their prayers and faith in God.

The Apostle John

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us” 1 John 1:6

We are to pray for our salvation. Cry out to God in the midst of your disaster. Everyone is under the wrath of God for their sin. And yet, as 1 John 1:6 tells us, we just need to pray and confess our sins to experience salvation.

For some of you, you have not prayed this way before. You have relied on your abilities and resources to get through your life so far. You have been blessed with comfort, food, and shelter all your life. You haven’t felt any need to cry out to God for yourself. When people talk about sin and guilt, it is like someone talking about their imaginary friend. You just don’t get it. If that is you, your soul is in grave danger. Just as the wrath of God was over Hezekiah and Nineveh, it hangs over you. You are in the hands of a wrathful God. His forbearance and grace towards you is so that you may repent and believe in His Son. Only by grace through Faith in His Son can you be saved. So pray to God for your salvation! Confess your sins and be baptized.

For others, you have already prayed and trusted God for your salvation. Not only that, you regularly turn to God at every problem and crisis you face. Take heart, and know that the Lord has trained you well. Furthermore, I challenge you to be an intercessor and pray for the salvation of others. I want to touch on a few brief examples from Scripture on praying for others for their salvation.

Intercessory prayers

Abraham prays for Sodom Gen. 18. He appeals to God’s character and how He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Sodom and Gomorrah are still destroyed, but Abraham gives us a picture of how we can wrestle with God in prayer on the behalf of others. We are not trying to change God, but appeal to His character and mercy.

Moses prays for Israel in Exod. 33. After the Golden Calf incident, God was ready to start everything over with Moses. But Moses intercedes for the Israelites and appeals to God’s name and his honor among the nations. Moses is not trying to change who God is but asking as a humble servant. This time, God does relent and does not destroy Israel for their wickedness.

Job, after being humbled by the Lord, is called to pray for his friends. This is before he is healed or has any of the fortunes restored. His friends are rebuked and commanded to ask Job to pray for them that they may not face God’s wrath themselves.

Job 42:9–10

“So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. (ESV)”

There will be times that God will call you to pray for others in the midst of your suffering. Job was healed and restored after he prayed for the deliverance of his friends. That may not be the case for you. But know this, your salvation from God’s wrath can be had in this life. Even if you are bedridden and miserable as Job was, you can experience God’s salvation today and pray for others to experience it as well.

Finally, Paul applies these examples for us in the New Testament. He writes to his disciple Timothy:

1 Timothy 2:1–6

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

We can intercede because Christ intercedes for us. We can pray for others because Christ prays for us. Do not let your salvation end with you, but pray for salvation of all peoples. Pray that God would use you to bring others to the salvation of His Son.

I remember praying for my son, Moses when he was in the NICU. He nearly died right before we brought him home from the hospital and there was a lot of uncertainty if he would be okay or have a normal life. We prayed so hard for a miracle. After two weeks, it looked like we were finally bringing him home. After running an errand, I got back to the hospital and things had taken a turn for the worse. The doctors confess they have no idea what is wrong with him and he needs to be immediately admitted to a children's hospital. They fly him by helicopter while we have to go home and pack our stuff. There is nothing quite like having an answered prayer fall apart before your eyes. It is like having a broken bone reinjured right before it is healed. It makes you not want to pray for fear of being let down and hurt again.

But we did not stop praying. The new doctors at the children’s hospital were able to give a proper diagnosis and find medication to help his condition. The last step to take our son home was for him to fast for 24 hours and see if his blood sugar would be stable enough. It had to be 65 or above. Otherwise, it was back to the drawing board. When the last check came, it was a 62. We were devastated again, but I prayed one last time. Lord, show your grace in this. Let this be enough to take our son home. Let my son know that he is home with us not because of any merit he has done but because your grace is enough. A few minutes later, the nurse ran down the hall and said the doctor gave our son the clear. We could take him home. God had answered our prayers.

I’m sure you could guess our response. We shouted and praised God right then and there. We were overjoyed and full of tears at what God had just done for us.

This leads to our final point.

Salvation Leads to Praise

David praises God for the salvation he knows will come for him and for God’s people. He also praises God for who He is. We do not praise God to manipulate Him. Worship is not a transaction. Instead, it is an outflow of a right response to God and what He has done. This response includes songs and praises.

V. 7 speaks of a steadfast heart and singing songs to God. V. 8 tells of using instruments and skill to worship God, even before the sun rises. If you struggle to sleep at night, try praising God. Lack of sleep is not always from the devil, but he will not mess with your sleep if you pray and praise God every time he wakes you up.

In v. 9 we see this praise among the nations through offering gratitude to the Lord publicly and in song. Psalm 57 is structured around two repeated lines in vv. 5 and 11: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! Praise is the bedrock of this psalm. It is the trellis on which the rest of the words hang upon. David is using his talents, his glory, to praise and worship God and lead others to do so.

One clear application we can take from this is to use your giftings to praise and worship God. Try to sing and seek to get better at it.

We are to sing to God and not to man, but also to sing in such a way that the nations know our God and what he has done.

For some, you don’t need to be told to sing. Whether by natural talent, acquired skill, or a mixture of both, you have a passion to sing praises to God. Press onwards in your efforts! Increase your craft, hone your skills, and participate publicly with others to tell the world of who our God is. Tell the nations what He has done for you.

For others, you feel meek and low when you sing. The words feel like sandpaper in your mouth. Your voice appears to be a clanging gong in a sirene assembly. Every glance in your direction is an indictment against you and a plea for your silence. If that is how you feel, know this: God hears you and accepts you. You may not have the voice of an angel, but you have something that angels long to see, the grace and salvation of our God in you. So praise God, sing with God’s people.

Conclusion

When disaster is at your door, will you turn to the Lord? Will you recall his steadfast love and sure salvation? As you place your faith in who the Lord is, will you find confidence in your salvation in him? As you live out your time in this world, will you make known to others how God has saved you? Will you praise him with all the gifts and talents that God has bestowed upon you?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then do not let this moment pass you by. Be a doer of God’s word. Repent from any lies that are drawing you toward the world and its wisdom and away from God and praising Him. Be a part of how God’s glory is filling the earth and help others here to do so as well. Pray as an intercessory, knowing that God answers prayers.

If your answer is no, that you do not turn to the Lord in your problems, you do not believe in his past mighty works, and you do not praise God, you are in grave danger. You are like a little girl playing in the middle of the street. You see no car, no truck and think all the warnings don’t apply to you, at least not yet. Maybe when you see or hear a car you will leave the road. Maybe when you face disaster or death you will trust in God that time. Stop it! Wake up! Listen to this warning: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. If you will not confess Jesus as your king, the boss of your life, you will rest in hell forever for every mistake and wrong thing you have done in your life. You know what I am talking about. You came into the world in sin and you will leave the world in sin unless God does a miracle inside you.

So what do you do? You pray! You ask for mercy as David asked for mercy. In the face of this spiritual disaster, you run to the wings of God, His means of salvation in the midst of judgment. You pray. You pray for salvation and confess your sins, remembering all the times that God saves sinners. You pray for the salvation of others knowing that God invites his image bearers, his chosen people, his church, to be part of His salvation work in the world. So pray. And then you praise God with all that you have got. You are not shy in what God has done in you and for you. God is the possessor of heaven and earth. This world is his and His gospel is going forth to all the nations. His glory will fill the earth from sea to sea. Let us sing with David say, Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!