Psalm 57 is the Cave Psalm. David is in Engedi hiding from Saul. We see the record of it in 1 Samuel 24:1: "After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, 'David is in the Desert of En Gedi'" (NIV).
Warren Wiersbe says: "This psalm and Psalm 142 are 'cave' psalms that can give you great encouragement. Your own 'cave' may be a sickroom, a difficult place of ministry, or even a home where there is tension or trouble. If you do what David did, you will experience peace and victory even in the cave."
Verse 1: "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed."
Psalm 56:1: "Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press under attack" (NIV).
The repetition of this first request, "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me," helps us understand the intensity of the situation David finds himself in at this time.
Having called upon the Lord for mercy, the Psalmist states the reason in the remainder of verse 1: "for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed."
It is "in you" and "in the shadow of your wings" where "I will take refuge."
Psalm 17:8: "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings" (NIV).
Psalm 36:7: "How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings" (NIV).
Psalm 63:7: "Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings" (NIV).
Psalm 91:4: "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart" (NIV).
Let's meditate upon a few verses as we conclude our time in verse 1.
Ruth 2:12: "May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (NIV).
Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling" (NASB).
Colossians 3:3: "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (NASB).
Isaiah 32:2: "Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land" (NIV).
"For in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings." Following this statement he says: "until the disaster has passed" - that is, the storms of destruction.
I will stay in the storm shelter until the tornadoes of trouble have passed by!
