AWAKEN THE DAWN
Every week we have a cycle of “activities” for everyday (activity is in quotation marks because that would be a very loose term to be used for what we do), and we start the cycle off with worship. Friday night we had worship and we didn’t just sing along to the music played on Dasia or Kendall’s speaker, but Lucie, our squad leader, had something really cool for us to do. Rewind for Haiti for a second: we did a worship team time on praying for a Psalm, where we sat in prayer and asked God to reveal to us a Psalm that he wanted us to read and it was SO COOL. So many of the Psalms that people got were resonating with their lives at the moment and others were just rad Psalms that taught us different things. Back to the present, we were asked again to pray for a Psalm or use the one we got in Haiti, and write what it meant to us/make it our own (like a Message version type thing)/make it into a prayer/write whatever the Lord was telling us about the scripture.
I distinctly got the number 57 in my head and so I flipped over to it. What God revealed to me through this passage was pretty accurate to questions I had been asking Lucie/things I had been wrestling with in my head. So here is my analysis, my take, on Psalm 57, as the Lord borough to light in worshipping Him.
Psalm 57
“Have mercy on me , O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings util the disaster has passed.
I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends his love and faithfulness.
I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts—
Men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
Be exalted O God, above the heavens; let your glory be all over the earth.
They spread a net for my feet— I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path— but they have fallen into it themselves.
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music
Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.”
Okay so King David, the dude who wrote this, says that when he was not in a good place, a weak and vulnerable and unhappy place, his enemies spread a net for his feet. David was tempted and was in a susceptible position of falling into this trap that his enemies set before him. He is asking God for mercy, for forgiveness, for deliverance, from the traps of his enemies. David is asking the Lord to save him from the mistakes that he has made, asking for protection and safety, in the midst of pure danger and dismay.
And there he is! God shows up, love and faithfulness in hand. He meets David right where he is. He is right there in the midst of lions and ravenous animals with David, and even then God is being excited, having his glory spread as far as the east is from the west. How freaking good is our God, that even when David messed up, God still did that? He still saved David and delivered him out of the grasp of the world.
One cool thing that I learned about God this month is that when people do us wrong, they do God wrong even more. I am just imagining this in my mind while reading this, that the people that are doing David wrong have wronged God all the more, and so He is right there with David, feeling what he is feeling and fighting for him.
The Lord saved David, he got him out of his trap, and the bad guys fell into it instead.
And now David is praising the Lord, in song and music! He says that his heart is steadfast (twice!!!!), meaning it is unwavering and purposefully firm in the Lord. With this new-found heart posture, he is wanting to give God everything he’s got. He is writing to his soul to stir, to awaken, even before the sun rises. David is going to be praising the Lord so early that he is going to awaken the day with these songs. I also imagine some dancing.
God is a purpose-fulfiller. And he does so with David. Because God promises to carry out the calling in David’s life, and He isn’t a promise breaker, because of the Lord’s faithfulness, David wants to praise God for the rest of his days. He came face-to-face, eye-to-eye with the Lord’s goodness in being rescued and having a safe haven in the presence of God. To everyone, even amongst those nasty enemies, will he shout praises to the Lord. How could David not sing God’s praise after what He did for him?
(Side note: I was thinking, “Why does love reach all the way to heaven and faithfulness only to the skies?” But I had an epiphany!!!! Because love is in heaven, we are obviously going to love everyone in heaven and Love is in heaven, but we don’t need faith in Heaven because Jesus is literally right there. Super rad, David.)
Now about the structure: three couplets and then a single verse. Two times. There’s something symbolic in that. Look at the huge turn of events between the first and the second half: David went from crying out for mercy, in total distress, to being saved and praising God because of it. His life is still his life is what I am getting from this. Nothing really changed in His life between being amongst his enemies and being saved besides his posture of worship to God. His life was still his life. I’m sure he was still amongst these ravenous beasts but he chose to praise the Lord instead. Or maybe it is that when he was in distress, he chose to sing praises instead of giving into the traps laid out before him by his enemies. I am no English major, but that is what I am getting.
And he repeats the single verse, really emphasizing that God be lifted high, even further than the heavens, infinitely lifted high, and that his glory may be all over the earth, even in the hurt and the broken, let it wholly and completely be exuded over all the nations.
I am currently reading through the Old Testament, where the Israelites, the most humanly and broken, yet blessed and chosen people, are met with mercy and redemption over and over and over again. David is, as are you and I, not so very different from them; We constantly have been met with the Lord’s lovingkindness, yet we choose the ways of this world instead. But I want this flipped around heart posture, one that is countercultural. I want an unwavering, purposefully firm heart that is wide-eyed focused on the Lord. I want to be so psyched to rejoice and be glad in the day to come that I am the one waking up the day with my psalms, not the day forcing me out of bed, dreadfully and unamused. I want the same eager anticipation. I want to always sit in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness, he hasn’t failed me and he never will.
(PS: THANK YOU so so so much to everyone who donated!!!! I seriously cannot say thank you enough for the kindness and generosity y’all have exuded.)
