STILL: A 3-Day Devotional by Michael W. SmithChikamu

Steadfast

“My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.” - Psalm 57:7 NIV

David wrote this Psalm from a cave during the time that he was running for his life from King Saul. It doesn’t seem like the time or place to speak of being steadfast, especially while he was literally living in a cave, with no home, security, or stability to speak of. 

The word steadfast in the original Hebrew has deep roots and strong foundations. It means to be fixed, firm, stable, secure, and settled.  

Picture a giant boulder that, over the course of time, has fallen, shifted, and sunken into place. You can try your best to budge it, but it won’t go anywhere. Or think of a foundation that has been poured 30 feet deep into the ground. The greatest winds and rain could not remove it.  

So in this time of uncertainty David makes this bold declaration to God: “My heart, O God, is steadfast.” 

Just skim over the Psalms and you’ll see that David’s feelings are often anything but steadfast. He is always honest about his emotions to God. In just a few verses he can go from sadness to celebration, from fear to faith, from loathing to love. 

So when David says his heart is steadfast, I don’t believe he is talking about a feeling here. I think he is telling God about a decision he has made deep within himself. He is essentially saying, “No matter how I feel, no matter what is going on around me, I’ve chosen to love you, God. My heart is settled on that matter.” 

And in the next breath he says, “I will sing and make music!” This tells us something very important. Being steadfast in God is not about gritting your teeth or trying harder to love Him. Being steadfast is more like singing a song. Less like a furrowed brow, and more like a big smile. It’s a decision to rest in God and find joy in Him in every circumstance. 

I don’t know about you, but I would like to know David’s secret to finding this joy. How did he do it?  

He gives us the answer in the next few verses (9-10):

“I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;   

I will sing of you among the peoples.  

For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” 

David’s steadfast heart came from God’s steadfast love. He took joy in God because God had already taken joy in him. And he had learned to rest in this even while hiding in a cave! This is the secret to the Christian life. Our settled security does not come from anywhere or anyone but God! A stable heart comes from holding onto the stable One.