Day 91: Psalm 142:1–7

I cry aloud to the Lord; I plead aloud to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him (vv. 1–2).

Few of us have been forced to find refuge in a cave, but all of us have felt some of the same emotions David experienced. The New International Version identifies Psalm 142 as a prayer of David when he was in the cave, and it offers a number of insights into David’s heart. It also provides a worthy example for us. Note what David did when he was overwhelmed with unfair treatment and difficult circumstances.

First and foremost, David prayed. The psalm provides an unquestionable testament that David responded to his difficulty with prayer. Few of us would argue about prayer being the proper response in our crises, but we often don’t perceive prayer as being the most practical response. We think, “God can save me from my sins but not from my situation.”

Next we notice that David cried aloud. The scene touches my heart as I imagine this young man sobbing in the cave. I was nearby once when a teenage boy slammed his hand in a car door. He was in immense pain. I watched him as he struggled between his need to be reduced to a bawling baby and his external need to keep his dignity. I watched him try to control his quivering lip. David was probably no different from that young man. I wonder how much he wished for the old days when he was unimportant, unimpressive, and contentedly keeping sheep. He had not asked for God’s anointing, yet he had met nothing but trouble since that day. We can only begin to imagine the thoughts, fears, and losses that brought him to tears.

I believe that crying “aloud” helped David maintain sound emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Sometimes there’s just nothing like a good cry. It clears the air, doesn’t it? David was a real man by anyone’s standards, yet he knew no better outlet than crying aloud to his God. “Cry aloud to the Lord” when you feel overwhelmed. He can take it!

A third detail stands out: David poured out his complaint to God. He told God his troubles. I am convinced this is one of the major contributors to David’s godlike heart: he viewed his heart as a pitcher, and he poured everything in it on his God, whether it was joy or sadness, bitterness or fear. David not only poured out his heart as a personal practice, he urged others to do the same.

David did not just pour out his emotion, he also rehearsed his trust in God. In Psalm 142:3, he said, “When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.” David was so exhausted that he feared he would become negligent in his alertness to the snares his enemies set for him. His prayer to God also became a reminder to himself: “God knows my way.” Prayer is for our sake as much as it is for God’s pleasure. When I see the words I’ve written in my journal extolling the mighty virtues of God, I am reminded of His constant activity on my behalf, and my faith is strengthened.

The text yields a fifth observation; did you notice how David longed for God’s presence? Because we need God’s presence, our feelings are worth sharing with Him whether or not they accurately describe the truth. In verse 4, David said, “Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me.” (Guards often stood to the right of their appointees, ready to take an arrow in their defense.) David was reminding God that he had no guard. He surmised from his aloneness that no one was concerned for him. His next words were, “I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.” Although he had found a cave in which to hide, he felt he had no refuge because no one was there who cared personally for him.

Certainly many people cared for David, but because they were not in his presence, he felt forsaken. His feelings were not an accurate assessment of the truth, but they were worthy to share with God. Feelings can be a little like our laundry. Sometimes we can’t sort them until we dump them out.

We can see that God honored David’s telling Him exactly how he felt because He brought David’s brothers and his father’s household to be with him. God knew David needed his daddy. Later, God would mature David and teach him to stand alone. He wouldn’t always send David’s father to him. But God always responded to David’s cry for help.

For a sixth principle from the passage, notice that David confessed his desperate need. A wise man knows when those who stand against him are mightier than he! David had killed both a lion and a bear; even the mighty Goliath had become just “like one of them” in David’s eyes (1 Sam. 17:36). So why did David feel overwhelmed on this occasion? It may have been because he had never battled a secret enemy. This time he had members of Saul’s entourage pursuing him with secret schemes.

Does David’s plight sound familiar? According to Ephesians 6, we also fight an entire assembly of unseen powers and principalities. Without the intervention of God and His holy armor, we are mud on the bottom of the enemy’s boots. How wise to humbly seek God’s aid by admitting, like David in Psalm 142:6, “rescue me . . . for they are too strong for me!”