The Storm Will End

“Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” (Ps 57:1 AV)

The calamities to which David is referring are the years he fled from Saul.  There are in the plural because fleeing brought with it a host of other problems.  He was estranged from his first wife and she eventually left him for another.  Each place he stopped was only for a short while, and trouble usually ensured.  David lost friends and family.  Those several years were difficult, to say the least.  Regardless of how long the trial was or what the specific situation was, David never lost hope that the calamities would end.  There was only one time in which he reached his limit.  That didn’t last long.  He encouraged himself in the LORD.  That one little word is a word of great hope.  Overpast. 

That word is an interesting one.  It means to pass over.  But it also means to transition.  The closest I can come to understanding this idea is a severe storm in the heat of the summer.  It is hot.  It is humid.  I grew up twenty miles to the east of Niagara Falls.  This meant most of our weather was affected by the Falls.  The summers could be rather dramatic.  Because our humidity was amplified from the evaporation coming off the Falls, when we had a summer downpour, it was rather dramatic.  They were often very heavy and very quick.  This meant things changed in very obvious ways.  It could be sweltering one minute, then cool down significantly the next.  Seeing roads steam after a storm was rather common.  It would be sunny and hot one minute, then we would have a downpour that lasted less than ten minutes.  Then the temperature would cool at least ten degrees.  Most times, even more.  There was a very obvious transition.  We went from very hot and humid to cooler and drier within a matter of minutes.

This is the understanding of overpast.  David knew the times that he suffered would come to an end.  When they did, life would transition.  They would not stay as they were.  It was this hope in the grace of God that got him through the downpours of life.  While he stood under the flood of adversity, the LORD was his refuge.  It was God who protected him and enabled him to weather the storm.  It was the promises of God that kept him focused.  He was able to do this because he knew the storm would be overpast.  It would be over and life would transition.  The circumstances would not stay the same forever.  They will change.  When they do, we will experience relief.  We can rest in that relief until the next storm comes.  In my childhood, we would have these downpours intermittently.  A steady rain was not the norm.   Bursts of downpours were more frequent.  This is what life can be like.  We can go from one violent storm to the next.  Knowing they will not last forever and that God is our refuge helps us to thrive in the most difficult times of life.