The wings of God. The problem with the first image has led other commentators to explain David's reference as to the wings of God himself. To the objection that God does not have wings or that the image is unworthy of the Almighty we answer that God speaks along these lines himself in several places. Indeed, the earliest biblical use of the word "wings" is an example. In Exodus 19:4, God declares, "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself." This initial use of the image later lends itself to several variations. Thus, in the Song of Moses God is compared to an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions (Deut. 32:11).

The first of the psalm's two parts begins with David asking for mercy, even as he takes refuge in God. Since the title of the psalm speaks of the cave in which David was hiding, it is natural to think that the cave suggested the idea of a "refuge.” But we should notice that David does not call the cave his refuge, though it was a refuge in a certain physical sense. Rather it is God whom he calls his refuge. Indeed, to use the image of the second half of verse 1, although David may have been hidden physically in the dark shadows of the vast cave of Adullam, he knows that it is actually under the shadow of the wings of God that he has found safety.

In the last several studies we have looked at psalms which are linked to that early desperate period of David's life when he was forced to flee into the wilderness from King Saul who wanted to kill him. Psalm 52 began this set of psalms. It refers to Doeg the Edomite who told Saul that David had gone to Nob and had been helped by Ahimelech the priest. Because of Doeg's self-serving betrayal Ahimelech and eighty-four of the priestly families were killed. Psalm 54 is another such psalm. It tells of David's betrayal by the Ziphites, who were his countrymen and who should have protected him. Worst of all, Psalm 56 describes David's desperate plight in the Philistine town of Gath which he went to alone, desperate and afraid.

So let me ask, Do you trust God? If you are a Christian, you have trusted him in the matter of your salvation. That is the greatest thing. God has saved you from sin, hell and the devil. If you are a Christian, you believe he has done that. But if he has done that, can you not also trust him in lesser things like loneliness or even those sometimes dangerous circumstances that cause fear and desperation? The Bible teaches that God will take care of you if you belong to him and are following after Jesus Christ. David wrote in an earlier psalm, "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Ps. 37:25). The psalm immediately before this one argued, "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you” (Ps. 55:22). The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, "My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).

I referred earlier to Perowne’s comment that Psalm 56 is about "the victory rather than the struggle of faith." But that did not mean that fear is missing from the psalm. On the contrary, the fear described in 1 Samuel 21:12 is evident in the opening verses (vv. 1, 2) and also in David’s second, longer elaboration of the danger (vv. 5-9). There are two emphases.