Psalms Chapter 57
Showing all 11 verses for Psalms Chapter 57.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"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 overpast. "
"Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me - I trust you completely. I'll take refuge in the shadow of your wings until this disaster passes."
Sometimes what you need isn't for the hard situation to disappear immediately, but a safe place to wait it out - ask for shelter to endure the storm, not always for the storm to vanish on command. I offer you that close, warm kind of protection, not a distant, hands-off kind.
"I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. "
"I will cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes everything for me."
It's one thing to believe someone is capable of helping you, and another to trust they'll actually follow through - let your trust rest on the kind of reliability that finishes what it starts, not just raw power. I'm not just able to help you; I intend to see it through.
"He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. "
"He will send help from heaven and save me from the insults of the one trying to destroy me. (Pause and think about that.) God will send out his mercy and his truth."
If you want to genuinely help someone, offer them both compassion and honesty together - mercy without truth can be empty comfort, and truth without mercy can be cruel. I send both, and that's the standard worth aiming for in how you treat others too.
"My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. "
"I'm surrounded by lions; I'm lying among people who are burning with hostility - people whose teeth are spears and arrows, and whose tongue is a sharp sword."
Don't dismiss verbal attacks as 'just words' - the Bible itself compares a hostile tongue to spears and swords, because cruel speech really can cut that deep. Take the damage of harsh words seriously, both what's said to you and what you say to others.
"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. "
"Be lifted high, God, above the heavens; let your glory cover the whole earth."
You don't have to wait until your circumstances improve before you allow yourself moments of gratitude, praise, or perspective - practising that shift even in the middle of danger is itself a way of not letting fear have the only voice. Let bigger truths interrupt your fear, even mid-crisis.
"They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. "
"They set a trap for my steps; I was brought low - but they dug a pit ahead of me, and they've fallen into it themselves. (Pause and think about that.)"
Plans built on trying to trap or harm someone else have a way of eventually backfiring on the person who made them - you don't need to engineer that outcome yourself, just don't be surprised when deceit and cruelty end up costing the person who chose them. Stay honest, and let schemes unravel on their own.
"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. "
"My heart is settled, God, my heart is settled - I will sing and give praise."
At some point, after you've honestly named your fear and pain, there comes a moment to deliberately settle your heart and choose your direction forward - that's not denial of the danger, it's a decision about where you'll plant your feet despite it. Make that choice on purpose, and say it to yourself if you need to.
"Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. "
"Wake up, my glory! Wake up, harp and lyre! I myself will wake early."
On hard mornings, it can genuinely help to deliberately rouse yourself towards something life-giving - music, gratitude, purposeful action - rather than just letting dread set the tone for the day by default. You have more say over how you start each day than you might think.
"I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. "
"I will praise you, Lord, among the people; I will sing to you among the nations."
When you come through something hard, don't keep the gratitude entirely to yourself - sharing it openly, even publicly, can encourage other people who are still in their own dark cave waiting for morning. Your story of getting through something is worth telling.
"For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. "
"Your mercy reaches as high as the heavens, and your truth as high as the clouds."
The kind of mercy and honesty worth aiming for in your own life is the kind that doesn't run out easily or get rationed carefully - aim big with your compassion and your truthfulness, rather than doling them out sparingly. Generosity of spirit doesn't have to be scarce.
"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth. "
"Be lifted high, God, above the heavens; let your glory cover the whole earth."
Sometimes the real ending point of working through fear and pain isn't a clever new insight, it's simply arriving back at the same basic, steady truth with a settled heart instead of an anxious one. Let your journey through hard feelings land you back on solid ground, even if that ground was there all along.