“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!” Psalm 57:7
July 29, 2026
God has given us the “psalms of darkness” (lament psalms) to enable us to shape our experience when our lives are disturbed and we become disoriented. David is expressing supreme confidence in the Lord in the midst of calamitous circumstances. He is in a cave fleeing from his father-in-law, the king of Israel. The whole psalm should be read, but we come to the emotional focal point in verse 7. David makes the cave of adullam ring with music. The burden of trouble must be resolved in the heart. A heart fixed, calm, firm, happy, resolute, established. David would not let Saul or the Philistines stop him. David wants God to be exalted in his own personal circumstances. Maybe you are in something of cave-like conditions. Sing through your sorrows to God. Praise and thanksgiving to God should lead us to want the world to know what kind of God we have.
H
Reflections:
“The psalms of lament do not simply reflect our experience; they are meant to form our experience of despair. They are meant to name the silences that our suffering has created.” Stanley Hauerwas, God, Medicine and Suffering