May it please almighty God to
bless the reading of his holy words to the prophet of our souls
this evening. We'll turn to the book of Psalms
and we'll read Psalm 142. Psalm 142. And it's titled, Masculine of
David, a prayer when he was in the cave. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble.
when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then the newest my
path, in the way wherein I walked, have they privily laid a snare
for me. I looked on my right hand and
beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed
me. No man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord, I
said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the
living. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. the righteous shall compass me
about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Almighty God is very gracious
to instruct people like David to write down how he felt personally
and the account he gives of how he did feel And we're told that
this was a prayer when he was in the cave. obviously it was
a time when he was fleeing from King Saul and he was hiding himself
and we know that some of the caves were very adequate to hide
and very difficult to get into so no doubt David felt some degree
of safety as he was in that cave and then he was probably by himself
he might have been with a few men but basically by himself
And so we're told then, he says, I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. He didn't have to pray silently. He could pray out loud. And we're told, I cried unto
the Lord with my voice. And with my voice unto the Lord
did I make my supplication. David was in a time of need. David had been brought low and
the Lord was his helper, the Lord was his confidence, and
he knew how the Lord had indeed helped him. answer prayers. We look back in the life of David
from the time when perhaps he was first shown and he came and
he fought with Goliath and how he was able to testify that the
Lord would be with him and indeed he was and he brought about a
great victory. His hope, his confidence was
in his God and may we always remind that whatever situation
we may find ourself in to be able to come to our God with
our voice and to the Lord did I make my supplication and then
he tells us I poured out my complaint before him I showed before him
my trouble it's a great blessing when we can come to our God and
we come pour out our heart to him because he understands us
he understands the reason we're in this situation and men and
women usually do not understand but we have a God who does and
so he came here and there wasn't any holding back He poured out
his complaint, whatever that was or refers to, before God,
and then he showed him my trouble. Well, he had a trouble. We know
he had troubles naturally in fleeing from King Saul. We know
he also had spiritual troubles, so it's good that he was able,
as he cried with the Lord in this cave, to show the Lord his
trouble, to explain everything. And it is sometimes a wonderful
relief to come to our God, to pour out our heart, to tell Him
everything, explain everything, explain our fears, explain our
concern, and to believe we have a God who hears and answers prayer. And we're not therefore wasting
our breath. But if we come in faith, we can
believe God will hear and answer our requests. And then he says,
when my spirit was overwhelmed within me. Overwhelmed is a very
full statement, isn't it? that means he was indeed heavy
burdened and it was a weighty matter and it weighed him down
and he was overwhelmed and it would seem that this refers to
his spiritual life because he says when my spirit was overwhelmed
within me Well, he was thankful then to be able to say, then
our newest, my path. God does know our path. He knows
every step we take. He knows all the obstacles. He
knows all the difficulties, all the trials, all the afflictions,
all the spiritual afflictions, where we have to cry out, can
ever God to our here? as God reveals to us perhaps
some of the evil thoughts that spring up in our sinful heart
and we mourn over it. And what a blessing it is then
we can commit ourselves to God. He knows our path. He knows the
reason. He's led us into the place we
find ourselves. And what a mercy then to be able
to come to our God with our spirit overwhelmed because he knows
our path. And then he tells us, in the
way wherein I've walked, have they privily or secretly laid
a snare for me? Well, we know the devil's very
cunning. The devil's very skillful and
he's always setting snares to our feet to try and trip us up
and cause a problem. What a blessing it is when God
is very mindful of us and doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve
and therefore enables us sometimes to observe the snares that are
set for our feet and to be able to avoid them and commit our
way unto God to help us out of them. In the way wherein I have
walked Have they privily laid a snare for me? We walk in the
way that God lays down for us. Sometimes he allows snares to
be laid for our feet. And when those are so, what's
the result? The result should be that we
come and cast all our care upon our God, believing he cares for
us. And he tells us, I looked on
my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know
me. Well, sometimes we look around,
don't we, for help. We may come to man. We may think,
perhaps, that some people would understand our case. And therefore
we look in our right hand and we find there's no man there
that knows us, would understand us, is able to help us. And therefore
that which we perhaps were looking for deliverance did not appear. And we have to come and say,
refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. That's quite a destitute situation,
isn't it? To believe that no man is concerned
about us. There we are by ourselves, and
here was David in this dark cave, as I said, perhaps by himself. No man cared for my soul. But what did it do? What was
the effect? Well, as the psalm commences, I cried unto the Lord,
And so he repeats and says, I cried unto thee, O Lord. Yes, a personal prayer. And he tells us what he said.
I said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the
living. He told God there was his hope,
there was his refuge, there was his portion in the land of the
living. And it's good if we can come
to our God in this way, realizing that our God is a prayer hearing
and a prayer answering God. God is the friend of sinners.
God knows all about us. He knows how foolish we are sometimes.
He knows how sinful we are. And we know He is a compassionate
God. So what a blessing then to understand
a statement like this where we've given up perhaps any hope of
man understanding us. No man cared for my soul. Shut up to God. Shut up to God. That's not a bad place. It's
not an easy place. But it's a place of refuge. And
to be able to say, Thou art my refuge. and my portion in the
land of the living. He was in the land of the living
and he therefore came and committed himself to his God. Well, what
a blessing if you and I can do just that. Our life on this earth
is not easy. We're not promised an easy life
on this earth because this is not our home, it's not our rest.
We're on a journey. And the devil tries to make it
such that we turn away from the things of God and tempts us with
so many things and tries to encourage us to give up our religion and
to cease to pray. Well, the effect upon David was
to make him cry more earnestly. And then he comes and says, attend
unto my cry. or he didn't want God to turn
him away he didn't want to be pushed aside he wanted God to
hear him attend unto my cry and again he's able to come and be
very honest for I am brought very low sometimes we are brought
very low very low because of the situation which has developed
in our natural life and also perhaps in our spiritual life
when we can't seem to be able to pray. Pray is hard work. We don't seem to get any access
at the throne of grace. Therefore, we need God to attend
unto our cry. Then we have to come and tell
our God, I'm brought very low. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. And then he pleads, deliver me
from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. It makes
us realise we don't have any strength against our foes, against
the devil. No, we find they're stronger
than us. The devil is very cunning. He's
very clever. He knows what our weaknesses
are and how quickly he turns us aside. Well, again, what a
mercy it is to come to our God and plead, deliver me. Lord, I've been brought very
low. Deliver me from my persecutors. For thou
art stronger than I. We should never think that we're
a match for the devil. We should never think that we
could cope with difficulties and hardness of heart and loneliness
of spirit ourselves. No, we need to confess these
things to our God. And then he tells us what he
felt like. He felt like he was in prison.
Chained up in prison. The door shut and locked and
he couldn't get out. So what was his cry? Bring my
soul out of prison. Again, it comes down to a personal
cry, doesn't it? Bring my soul. We want deliverance. We want the Lord to come and
set us in a good place. We want the Lord to come and
touch our hearts, and soften our hearts, and revive our spirits,
bring my soul out of prison. That was his cry, that was his
prayer. Well, no doubt, it's a blessing
if you and I know that. If we've been brought low, we
fear to be in prison, we plead to our God to attend to our cry,
we plead to our God to bring our soul out of prison, And then
he says, and we shouldn't forget this, that I may praise thy name. When the Lord appears, when the
Lord hears and answers our prayer, when the Lord does attend unto
our cry, when he does bring us out of prison, what should be
the automatic result? Praise unto our God. because he hasn't dealt with
us as our sins deserve, but his mercy has been made known to
us. He's remembered us in our lowest
state, for his mercy endureth forever. That I may praise thy
name. And then he has, his faith stretches
out in confidence to his God. The righteous shall encompass
me about. What a mercy that is. May God's
people come around us and encourage us and help us and strengthen
us. The righteous shall encompass
me about. And then finally it says, four,
thou shalt deal bountifully with me. There you are, you had a
gracious anticipation. His hope was in the Lord, his
God. Clearly he knew what it was in
that place to find access and we're thankful for it and we
pray that he may indeed bless us even tonight as we come in
prayer to our God. May he be gracious to us and
bless us. May he help our brethren as they
lead us in prayer and may it be a time of faith.