Our Daily Bread 2nd September 2020 Devotional Message
Topic: The Whispering Gallery
Today’s Scripture: Psalm 18:1–6,16–19(NIV)
Bible in a Year: Psalms 137–139,1 Corinthians 13
Key Verse: In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. – Psalm 18:6
Today’s Insight: The introduction to Psalm 18 tells us David wrote it “when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” At fifty verses, it’s the first lengthy psalm in the Bible. Interestingly, it also occurs (with variations) in 2 Samuel 22. Here David expresses his overwhelming gratitude for God’s hand in defeating his many enemies. Yet a reading of the entire psalm reveals it to be messianic; that is, the song points to Christ. In Romans 15:9 the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 18:49 as referring to Jesus: “I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.” We might dismiss this statement as being solely about David, but Psalm 18:50 says, “[God] shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.” Such a promise can be literally fulfilled only by Jesus Himself.
Our Daily Bread 2nd September 2020 Devotional Message
In the towering dome of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, visitors can climb 259 steps to access The Whispering Gallery. There you can whisper and be heard by another person anywhere along the circular walkway, even across the enormous abyss nearly one hundred feet away. Engineers explain this anomaly as a result of the spherical shape of the dome and the low intensity sound waves of a whisper.
How we long to be confident that God hears our agonized whispers! The Psalms are filled with testimonies that He hears us—our cries, prayers, and whispers. David writes, “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help” (Psalm 18:6). Over and over again, he and other psalmists plead, “Hear my prayer” (4:1), my voice (5:3), my groans (102:20). Sometimes the expression is more of a whispered, “Hear me” (77:1), where the “heart meditated and [the] spirit asked” (77:6).
In answer to these pleas, the psalmists—like David in Psalm 18:6—reveal that God is listening: “From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” Since the actual temple wasn’t yet built, might David have been referring to God listening in His heavenly dwelling?
From His very own “whispering gallery” in the dome of the heavens above the earth, God bends to our deepest murmurs, even our whispers . . . and listens.
Reflect & Pray
What do you long to whisper to God today? How can you know that He hears?
Dear God, give me courage to whisper to You today, trusting You to hear and respond.