Hearing the Good Book

(A Few Words on Listening to the Bible)

It was a crisp fall evening and I was in the mood for a good sermon, especially from the evangelist I was going to hear. Highly respected and generally known as an effective speaker; I was eager to hear what the young man had to say. Arriving at the church I greeted some people I knew and took my seat. The church was pretty well filled and the singing was lively. The pastor introduced the guest preacher with that kind of overkill for which some pastors are famous. The evangelist stepped to the pulpit, smiled, opened his Bible, spoke a few words of greeting, and said: "The text for tonight is Psalm 57:7." Then he proceeded to read the passage from the King James Version.

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
      I will sing and give praise."

After reading the verse, and looking straight at the congregation, he introduced the sermon with a reference to the sextant, a device used before the invention of radar to determine a ship's position on the high seas. The sextant, he intoned, was used "to get a fix on the stars" and chart a path of safety on the open waters. In much the same way, the preacher said, we Christians need to get "a fix" on what we believe in order to know how we can stay on our spiritual course. He had such convictions himself, he told us, and he wanted to share them with us that evening. Then he developed a sermon based on the following clearly stated outline.

My heart is "fixed" that

1. the Bible is God's Word,
2. God is my creator,
3. Satan is my enemy,
4. Jesus is my Savior, and
5. heaven is my home.

Each of his five points was preceded by the phrase "my heart is fixed," and in that way he kept us focused on his line of development. He was a convinced man and he wanted us to be a convinced congregation.

The evangelist ended his sermon by appealing to St. Paul, who said we should be able to give a reason to others for the hope that is in us. [Oh yes, tucked away in his conclusion was a sixth point that his heart was fixed that there would be a final judgment.] The text which was read for the sermon, Psalm 57:7, was not referred to at all in the body of the message, though it was mentioned in passing in the conclusion. The aim of the sermon was obvious: We need to reaffirm our faith in the essentials of Biblical Christianity. The evangelist's invitation at the end of the sermon was somewhat vague but did suggest that some of us needed to repent and come to Christ. Actually, the sermon was directed at Christians, but the invitation opened a door for non-Christians to make a life-changing decision.

The response to the sermon was quite good and a number of people went forward to the chancel for prayer and counsel. The evangelist had preached with gusto. He obviously believed what he was saying and wanted us to believe it too. He was especially good at telling a variety of interesting stories and the sermon was liberally sprinkled with them. At times we were laughing, at times quite serious. He preached approximately 35-40 minutes.

Although I deeply appreciated his earnestness and thanked God for the response by the people, yet he raised a serious question: Was he true to the text he selected and read as a basis for the sermon?

What Does the Bible Say?

Most of us read the Bible in one of two ways. We read it as "a word in time," with its unique history and theology or as "a word beyond time," as God's personal word to us, with little or no attempt to understand the original meaning of the text. The evangelist I heard in church that night treated Psalm 57:7 as "a word beyond time," giving absolutely no thought to what the psalmist had in mind when he wrote the beautiful hymn from which his passage came. In the preacher's capable hands, the text became something to be used, not understood. I repeat, he was a good man, very professional, and people found help as a result of his preaching. At the same time, he misrepresented the text, however good his intentions were, and led us in a direction the psalmist never intended. But so what, if people received help? I think a great deal is at stake here, and at stake in many pulpits throughout the church every Sunday. It boils down to whether what we say is more important than what God says. I know that sounds a little huffy at first. The evangelist would be horrified at my statement, that is, that he manipulated a passage to his own ends rather than explaining it to God's ends. Yet that is what clearly happened.

Personally, I believe strongly that there is a "personal" word to us in the Bible. God does "speak" to us through His written Word. All of us read the Bible devotionally and look--eagerly search--for some special inspiration in its pages. At the same time, it is my belief that we gain the most understanding and best application of a passage if we get as close to its original meaning as we can and then see what it means for us. I grant that most of us, myself included, will fall short of a complete appreciation of Biblical teachings in their original intent; we simply do not have the tools to interpret the passage precisely as it was received by the first Christians. And I think the Lord helps us when we fall short if our desires are good; if we truly want to know and do His will. I believe God honored the evangelist's efforts to help the people that night. It is, however, hard to tolerate a mishandling of the text by one who knows better and has been trained in seminary to know how to get at the likely meaning of a passage. The best way I can put it is that the evangelist was in right field waiting for a ball that was hit into left field. He wasn't anywhere in the neighborhood of the psalmist.

What we will do now is take a look at Psalm 57 and see what riches are there, if we open ourselves to them. Before we do, I want to be clear that I am not judging my brother, the evangelist. I celebrate his "Christian" sermon, though it was hardly a "Biblical" sermon. I rejoice in the good things he shared with us and the zeal he manifested in doing so. In a way, he reaffirmed our faith and encouraged us to be strong as we live our daily lives. What he said needed to be said, but not with Psalm 57:7 as a text. He read things into the text that could never be read out of it. But let's see what he could have shared with us if he had listened to King David.

Understanding Psalm 57

The psalms are the songs of ancient Israel, songs well known to our Lord and songs that continue to inspire and inform believers today. Much of the time they are as relevant to us as they were to those who sung them in the Temple. This is true of Psalm 57. It can have an unforced relevance if we just grasp a little of what it meant to those who first sung it as a response to God's love.

The first thing to do is read the psalm. We can do this easily because Psalm 57 is relatively short. Although the evangelist used the King James Version of the Bible as his text, we will read it in the New Revised Standard Version. The meaning of the psalm is the same in either version, so we will use the NRSV right now. We will come back to the KJV when we discuss verse 7, the text read by the evangelist at the beginning of his sermon. Now, read carefully this beautiful song of amazement.

"To the Leader. Do Not Destroy.
Of David, a Mik'tam.
When he fled from Saul, in the cave."

¹ Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by.
² I cry to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
³ He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample on me. Selah God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
⁴ I lie down among lions that greedily devour human prey; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords.
⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.
⁶ They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my path, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.
⁸ Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
⁹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
¹⁰ For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the clouds.
¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.

It is important to note that the meaning of Psalm 57:7 is controlled by the verses around it. In fact, the psalm as a whole is placed in a particularly grouping of psalms and can be studied as one in a cluster of sacred songs. But we will single out the psalm since its message can be studied on its own merits.

The first thing to do is note the introductory words before the psalm itself. Not many psalms have an introduction, and none like this unusual one.

"To the Leader. Do Not Destroy.
Of David, a Mik'tam.
When he fled from Saul, in the cave."

This introduction probably refers to a musician ("leader"), the tune ("Do Not Destroy"), the author of the psalm ("David"), a style of writing ("Mik'tam), and the event that inspired the song ("When he fled from Saul, in the cave"). The evangelist probably would not spend time on this introduction in the sermon, of course, but he should be aware of the uniqueness of the psalm and its historical meaning. To know its history is to know something about its theology--which will preach!

Now, we ask ourselves, "When did David ever flee from Saul, an ancient king of Israel?" "And what about this cave?" A quick check takes us to the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel 24:44ff. It seems that the prophet Samuel told King Saul that his disobedience to God was going to cost him the kingship, and that none other than David was replacing him. Thinking that if he could get rid of David he could save his role as king, Saul determined to kill the young man. David, on hearing of Saul's intent, headed for the hills. Saul gave chase and pursued David over rough terrain. Even kings have to obey the demands of nature and so, having to relieve himself, Saul entered a cave to take care of matters. What he did not know is that David was hiding in that same cave! David had the perfect chance to kill this furious king, but he did not do so. The result (no pun intended) is that Saul eventually did fall and David ascended the throne, just not at this time. What we do see is the history back of the psalm, and knowing that we will better appreciate what it says.

The second thing we note is that verses 5 and 11 are identical. They say exactly the same thing.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.
¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.

It is extremely difficult to find English ways of saying what Hebrew writers intended and this is especially true with verses 5 and 11. Sometimes translators interpret "Let your glory be over all the earth" a bit differently from one another. However, we can know this much about the words: they appeal to God to do something grand. The importance of these two verses is that they form refrains for what is a two-stanza hymn. Verses 1-4 constitute 1 stanza and 5-10 the second. Reread the psalm with this in mind; see what you find. Oh, the word "Selah" at the end of verse 6, what does that mean? No one knows. It may signal a rest stop, an emphasis of some kind, or something else.

Okay, the song has two stanzas. What are they about? Look carefully at verses 1-4. What we see here is a passionate cry to God for help. The language is highly charged, describing David's fear of being trapped by the superior forces of Saul's army. David's complaint has all the earmarks of a classic Hebrew psalm of lament. Note the energy and striking images: "take refuge," "destroying storms," " trample on me," "I lie down among lions," greedily devour," "spears," "arrows," and "sharp swords." The threat to David is so great that his only recourse is God's love. He has confidence that God will fulfill "his purpose for me," that God will "send forth from heaven and save me." It does not take much imagination to "feel" David's dilemma, although we can only guess at the details. [Some Old Testament scholars think David was hiding in the mountains, possibly looking down on Saul's army encamped for the night. Perhaps, some suggest, David was up all night, anguished in prayer.] The thrust of this stanza is David's conflicted confidence in God's providential care. David is in deep trouble. He knows it. Yet he expresses his trust in God's justice.

The second stanza is totally different from the first. Here we read of the highest joy, instead of the deepest anguish. First we must take into consideration a technical concern of interpreters. Verse 6 sounds like it belongs in the first stanza. David's pursuers are actually setting a trap for themselves, though they do not know it.

⁶ They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my path, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah

Scholars are divided, and we can see why, some thinking this verse is out of place. I can't solve that problem, if it is one. For our purposes we will keep verse 6 in the second stanza. It may well be an introductory sentence to the jubilation of verses 7-10. Okay, this is a good place to pause and reread verses 7-10 in the text given above.

It is easy to see that this stanza is as happy as the first is pathetic. Note the language: "my heart is steadfast ("fixed")," "I will sing," "I will give thanks [to God]," and I will sing praises [to God]." Something has happened to change the psalmist's mood. We sense that God has acted! But how did God act in a matter of hours? We are not told, but the change of mood is drastic. David's dilemma has been replaced by David's deliverance! [This rapid turnaround has lead some to think that the second stanza was added to the hymn much later, after David was installed as King of Israel. But others think that both stanzas were composed at the same time, and this seems likely to me.] This second stanza is jubilant because of God's saving action, or the promise of it. The psalmist is happy and unashamedly wants the entire world to know of the faithfulness of Israel's God.

Now, do you remember that our evangelist referred to verse 7 as the foundation of his sermon? We are working with the NRSV, but the evangelist used the KJV. We will look at both translations side by side.

⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast: I will sing and make melody. NRSV
⁷ My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. KJV

The preacher said he was "fixed" (like the sextant) on certain spiritual truths, which he named one by one. Well, the psalmist's heart is "fixed" or "steadfast" as well, but the object of his "fixation" is different. Did you notice in reading the psalm that David's breakthrough happened at "dawn" (verse 8)? As the day was breaking the spiritual sun burst in on his soul, just as the rays of the sun were streaking over the mountaintop. What drama! The word "steadfast" (verse 7 in the NRSV) is a good modern way of saying "fixed." So powerful was the revelation of God's commitment to His covenant and His deliverance of David from Saul that David grabbed his musical instrument and began to sing to God, to "awaken the dawn!" What a wonderful image of praise and gratitude. From dilemma to deliverance, this was David's story. God can and will act when the going is tough! What a sermon here!

Communicating the Biblical Message

We can see that our evangelist really wanted to use the word "fix" rather than explore the fuller meaning of the psalm. He used the psalm to make his point, rather than using his sermon to make the psalmist's point. As we have already done, we can say that this psalm is a two-stanza hymn with a refrain, and that its thought can be understood as:

Stanza 1: David was in a terrible dilemma (verses 1-4). Stanza 2: David had a terrific deliverance (verses 6-10).

The main idea of the psalm seems to be: Let us praise God for His faithfulness. David's situation becomes the illustration of God's faithfulness. Historians tell us that Israel continued to sing this psalm for a long time and in doing so had its faith renewed time after time. We too sing hymns and songs in our worship that reminds us of God's faithfulness. We need these musical reminders of hope and confidence because life is filled with dilemmas, some of which seem overwhelming. One caution: this psalm will not allow us to say that every sincere prayer is answered exactly the way the petitioner wants. It does mean, however, that God is in our dilemmas and we can depend on His helping presence. All prayers for God's will are answered, though in our way of calculating time that may be later than sooner, but deliverance is certain. One has to be careful, however, and remember there are psalms like 44 and 88 whose message is on the downside of life. Life with God is a matter of balance ... and faith. The main thing is the assurance we can have that God is in control and will make the tough spots in our lives work out for our ultimate good.

There are several ways our evangelist could have developed the psalm for preaching. The evangelist developed a topical sermon on the general theme of Christian convictions. It was a helpful sermon, although more could have been done with the psalm itself. Sometimes we preachers get a sudden inspiration and it is all-too-easy to reach for a biblical text to support--or seem to support--our feelings or insights. The sermon I heard needed to be preached, but not as a message about Psalm 57:7. The evangelist could have helped us spiritually and in our understanding of the Bible if he had taken the time to explore this great psalm. I think this is a lesson for all of us: We need to listen to the text in its context and distill its relevance for us from its own setting. And this the Bible will do for us, and we can learn so much from its sacred pages.

One more word at this point. For Christians the Psalms must be understood in relation to the life of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing we do stands alone without Him. He is the driving force and goal of our lives, this much is clear from the Gospels in the New Testament, especially the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. The early church made good use of the Psalms, at times seeing them as prophecy about the particulars of the life and death of the Lord. It maybe that psalms like Psalm 57 come to us as "promise," rather than fulfillment, at least in this present life. Psalm 57 may be understood as hope and faith, not sight ... at least not now. Hope, faith, and the model of Jesus as Lord was what led the Apostles and other Christians to confront themselves and their culture, and do it in a way that was non-judgmental and loving. Yet, in spite of their love, they paid a heavy price in pain and death. That, too, only serves to show that the promise of the Gospel extends beyond this present life, that God's mercy reshapes our lives and our destinies in ways that complement His mysterious designs. This means we can take pleasure in Psalm 57 whether our lives are full of pain or ease, whether we are wealthy or poor, whether in excellent or terrible health. Our eyes must be "fixed" on Jesus, as the writer of Hebrews says:

... let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.    (12:1-3)

The Second Time Around

A few months later my wife, Ruth, and I were at worship, waiting for the pastor's word to us. He began by saying, "This morning my text is from the famous Psalm 57, with a focus on verse 7." I leaned over to my wife and whispered, "Now we will hear the text preached right!" She nudged me to be quiet. After an engaging introduction, the pastor said, "First, my heart is "fixed" that the Bible is God's holy Word ... ."

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Jerry Mercer