Psalm 57

From Morning Prayer, Psalm 57:

Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me. In you I seek refuge. In the shadow of your wings I seek refuge till harm pass by.

 A couple of years ago while floating the Smith River we were surprised by a sudden thunderstorm that boiled over the white cliffs and blasted us off the river and into the shelter of the trees along the shore. We had to balance the danger of being under trees while lightening struck all around us, sometimes so near we could smell ozone, with being out on the open where hail could pelt us. I had on a good rain jacket and I had the others with me gather around me and kneel down so I could lean over them, spread my arms and protect them from at least some of the hail that was quickly blanketing the ground around us. We laughed as we talked about my “hooding” them like a hen with chickens when a hawk passes over.

The image that comes to me from the Psalm today is different than the one portrayed in the story. I had been having one of those mornings prior to being able to start Morning Prayer.  My job requires me to engage unhappy and dissatisfied people and there had been a couple of such calls had been referred to me. I also have struggling with making some difficult decisions at work and the weight of those decisions had been wearing me down. When I finally was able to carve out some time for prayer, I was distracted and unable to concentrate on the text of the reading. I finally resorted to reading out loud which an often time brings the ability to focus. Hearing the words of the Psalm prayed out loud triggered an immediate sense of comfort and I found myself reflexively repeated the first stanza over and over again. After a while I was able to finish the rest of Psalm and then eventually Morning Prayer.

That is what God does for us when we finally remember where our refuge lays. In his mercy he provides us with safe refuge until we can face life again buoyed by his grace.