Psalm is written by David. And
he, of course, is relating his experience in his heart. But when we read the Psalms,
I encourage you in reading Psalms to look not only at the writer,
which many of them are David, but to understand that it's all
given by divine inspiration. And though the writer may be
describing a personal experience, by divine inspiration, it all
points to Christ. Remember on the road to Emmaus
after the resurrection, Luke 24, the Bible says that he expounded
unto them all the scriptures, that is all the Old Testament,
not part of it, but all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
That is to say that Christ is to be found in every single portion
of God's word. We don't understand it all. We
might not be able to grasp it all, but he's there. He's there. Now this Psalm of David was written
when Saul was persecuting him. and sought to kill him. Saul
is the king. David is not yet the king. And
it's believed to be written when he was hiding out in the cave,
Adullam, hiding from Saul because he wanted to kill him. He prays
openly to the Lord that is out loud, vocal twice in Verse one we read the words with
my voice. With my voice. Under the Lord. Did I make my supplication? Now,
if you don't want anybody else to hear you pray, you you pray
when you ride driving down the road. Or when you're alone. But pray out loud to the Lord.
It's not that he can't hear your thoughts, yes. But you might
not even hear your thoughts. Pray out loud. I do that, and
you'll discover how dumb some of your words are sometimes.
But it's a good thing, with my voice. So I want to begin, before
we get to the main thought, to mention four things about this
prayer. And we'd do well to take note of these things. First,
his prayer was passionate. He begins, I cried. unto the
Lord. And again in verse five, I cried
unto thee, O Lord. And in verse six, attend unto
my cry. His prayer was not just a cold
and formal speech, but it was hot and passionate. He's crying
to the Lord. And of course, such passion and
prayer to the Lord can only come from the Lord. We cannot make
ourselves as concerned about things as we ought to be and
about people as we ought to be. But what a blessing it is when
he brings us to this, when does it come? Verse three, it comes
when my spirit was overwhelmed within me. only the Lord does
that for us. The passion is described in verse
two as a pouring out. I poured out my complaint before
him. It was very passionate. And then
the second thing, his prayer was very private or personal. I'm looking at the emphasis of
the repetition of I and my Verse 1, I cried unto the Lord with
my voice. With my voice 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. He's not on this occasion going
to the Lord. Talk about how bad others are. And it's blessed to be burdened
for someone else's need. But it's me that's in trouble
here, Lord. And then the third thing, his prayer is very pointed. It's to the Lord. He didn't cry
to men. He didn't whine to people. But
to the Lord only. He says, I cried under the Lord
with my voice under the Lord. And verse two said, I poured
out my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble, my complaint. We must not complain
of the Lord. we can complain to the Lord.
And there must be that distinction that we're not complaining of
the Lord's doings. And then the next thing would
be the precise purpose of his prayer. He says in verse two,
this is about my complaint, my trouble. He didn't beat around the bush
and talk about how unworthy he was. And he was unworthy. He didn't whine and almost apologize
for trying to pray. No, he just poured out his heart. He just told the Lord, I'm in
trouble. I need you. And that's why I'm
calling on you. Remember the story in Luke 15,
the younger son, when he came back home, He was gonna go in
to apologize about all this unworthiness. I'm not worthy to be called your
son. Yeah, yeah. He had this speech made up. Father,
I'm not worthy to be called your son. If you'll just give me a
job. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, you know how far he got
with that speech? Father, that's the end of it. Bring forth the best robe. Kill
the fatted calf. As the Lord's children, we don't
have to come to Him and whine all the time about how unworthy
we are. And we are unworthy. But, oh,
to get a hold of a fact that He cares and He's ready to listen. And here I cry. Oh, my. No one really prays without a
deep sense of need that only the Lord can give us in the first
place and only the Lord can intervene. But for my message this morning
I want to talk about refuge failing and refuge found refuge failing
and refuge found. There are many circumstances,
conflicts, crises in this world for which there's no refuge to
be found in this world. There's no hiding place. There's
no escape. A lot of people don't understand
that there's some things money can't buy. There's some things
the lawyer can't fix. There's some things the doctor
can't do. And the person that lives thinking
they've got it made is in real trouble and don't know it. Our
reliance is upon God every moment of every day. Now, David says in verse four,
refuge failed me. He had nowhere to run, nowhere
to hide. And he had done nothing to warrant
Saul's hatred of him. It was all out of jealousy and
envy on Saul's part. When little David had been blessed
of God and called forth to do something he probably never even
dreamed he'd do. He was sent to the battlefield
to check on his brothers. And boom, here's this giant over
there cussing the God of Israel. And little David, of all people,
said, he can't do that. And you know the story, with
his sling, he slew the Philistine giant, Goliath. Cut his head
off. And the army went ahead and defeated
the Philistines. And when they came back to town,
here comes the army marching back in victorious. And here
comes David toting Goliath's head. And all the women, the women
it says, there might have been a man or two singing, but women
were singing, praising David. Saul had slain his thousands,
but David his ten thousands. That didn't sit well with Saul
from that day forth. He despised and wanted to kill
David. Now, David is living in caves
in the mountains, hiding out along with some homeless
men. First Samuel 22 to describes
the men that were with David living out in the wild. It said
they were men that were in distress and in debt and discontented. Fellas without any refuge really
in this world. So they were there. David was
not alone. And yet he was alone. Do you
ever feel like that? Not alone, but yet alone. And
first for, he says, I looked on my right hand. That's the
hand of strength and authority, except for me right now. In ancient courts of law, the
advocate or the attorney, the lawyer would stand on the right
hand of the accused. Yes, they still do. And David says, I looked on my
right hand and beheld, but there was no
man, no refuge. Spurgeon said the
Psalmist felt himself in the condition of one who had nobody
to plead his cause or protect him from the danger he was in. Refuge failed me. Not only was David feeling alone. He felt abandoned. He goes on
to say there was no man that would know me. Now here's what hurts. Didn't
say no man that did know me, but no man that would know me. The whole nation feared King
Saul. And because of his hatred for
David, it was better for every man to take the position. I don't know him. I'll not identify
with him. No man would know me. Like Simon Peter betrayed the
Lord, I know not the man. So David says, no man would know
me. Refuge failed me. I had no one. He goes so far as to say, no
man cares. No man cared for my soul. So many conditions in this world
when individuals feel alone and abandoned and no help and no
way out, no answer, nowhere to turn, no one to turn
to. and say with David, refuge failed
me. Some come to the place physically
with sickness and with disease when the doctor says, there's
really nothing more I can do. We've tried everything. Every
possible refuge failed. And not only physically, but
in most every family, There's conflict. There's broken relationships. Things we just can't fix. Marriage problems, sibling problems. And a few this morning have a
family in which everybody gets along. And I doubt there's hardly anybody
here like that. But if you do have that, you have much to thank
God for every day. Refuge fails us in this world. But then there's refuge found. David knows his only hope for
refuge. Verse 5, I cried unto thee, O
Lord. I said, and here it is. Thou art my refuge. In verse four, looking around
in every direction, he says, refuge failed me. But in verse
five, he's not looking around. He's looking up. He says, O Lord,
thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. This
world, by the way, is the land of the dying. Did you know that? Because of sin, that's what this
whole globe has become, is one huge graveyard. This is the land
of the dying. But David said, oh, Lord, thou
art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. To
be in Christ is to be in the land of the living. David is saying, though, I don't
say see any way out of this predicament. Lord, you are the way. For me. Whatever you do is right. However, this turns out will
be your portion for me. I'll give you some other scriptures
just to bring this down closer. David is not the only one who
claimed the Lord as his refuge. And let me throw this in about
refuge, about a hiding place. Now, when I was a kid, we'd play
hide and seek. Anybody ever done that? Okay, and the one that's gonna
do the hunting, he has to close his eyes and count to 100. Of course, all counters cheat
on that. Gotta count to 100. Well, many times, if you're the
counter, you'll get to 100, you'll turn around and start to go looking,
And you'll see one person running from here to here to here. They hadn't decided on a refuge. They went here to hide first,
saying, no, I think I better move. And they wind up not hiding
anywhere, because you saw them. I wonder this morning how many
of you are running this, that, that, that. There's no good place in this
world to hide. But Moses in Deuteronomy 32 in
verse seven, 27 said to the Israelites, the eternal God is our refuge. He's got a gang of people in
a barren wilderness for 40 years that, Hey, this, this ain't it. There's no hiding place here.
The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting
arms. When our God who rules over all
and He controls all, how vain, how vain it is to put much confidence
in anything or anyone else. the eternal God is thy refuge.
Psalm 9 and verse 9, the Lord also will be a refuge for the
oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Psalm 46, 1, God
is our refuge and strength and very present help in trouble. Solomon said, the wise man, Proverbs
14, 26, in the fear of the Lord, is strong confidence. You want
your confidence to be strong? It's in the fear of the Lord.
And his children shall have a place of refuge. Isaiah the prophet,
Isaiah 25 for, for thou hast been a strength to the poor,
a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm,
a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones
is as a storm against the wall. The Lord is our refuge. Jeremiah
the prophet, Jeremiah 16, 19, O Lord, my strength and my fortress
and my refuge in the day of affliction. So there's David and another
psalmist and Moses and Solomon and Isaiah And Jeremiah, all
have said, the Lord is our refuge. Don't waste your time hiding
anywhere else. Songwriter Charles Wesley said
it like this. That's why I wanted us to sing
that this morning. Other refuge have I none. Hangs my helpless soul on thee. All else has failed. Thou art
my refuge. Another great songwriter, Ira
Sankey, he wrote this, oh, rock divine, oh, refuge dear, a shelter
in the time of storm. Be thou our helper ever near,
a shelter in the time of storm. Think of the unknown. number
of saints, generations gone by for many of us grandparents and
parents who have weathered the storms of life in much worse
conditions than we live in. How? Only because they could
say, the Lord is my refuge. My hiding place is not anywhere
you can see around here. It's in Him. So my question,
is He your refuge today? Or are you still so self-centered
and so deceiving yourself to think you're self-sufficient
as to be able to fight your own battles and win this war? It'll never happen. It can't
happen. We're no match. Is God your refuge? Don't run
in your own resources, your own strength, your own reputation,
your own influence, and your own maybe so-called authority
with men. It'll all fail. That same songwriter
said, the raging storms may round us beat. They do. A shelter in
the time of storm. I'll do what? Fight back? No.
No. I'll never leave. We'll never
leave our safe retreat, a shelter in the time of storm. He's not
talking about a place. He's talking about a person. Brother Jim sings, sometimes
Christ will be the lily in your valley, a refuge in the storm. Remember when the
disciples were out at sea one night, and they were in a terrible
storm. They were convinced they were
going under. And they fought it long as they
could. And finally, they give up and
confessed that fighting the storm wasn't the answer. That's what you need to do. That's
what I need to do. Fighting the storm in your own
strength is not the answer. The Lord was the only one taking
a nap. He went back and woke him up.
He said, Lord, don't you care? We're going under here. Do something. He did. Peace. Be still. He calmed the storm. So the refuge is not a place,
but a person, a rock wherein we can rest in this weary land. The last two verses, the plea
attend under my cry for I am brought very low. Lord, I'm beyond being able to
handle this. Deliver me from my persecutors
for they are stronger than I. What a lot of people said about
the pandemic. Oh, we'll just put this behind
us. You know, All the start backups done been
delayed numerous times. We'll get rid of this. Lord, help us to realize that all of life in general is
too much for us. Stronger than I. Bring my soul
out of prison. David was talking about being
stuck in that cave, having to hide out for his own life. Oh,
he wasn't a coward. That wasn't it. But when the whole country is
against you and going to kill you, it's not wise to stand there
and let them cut your head off. He did the right thing. But he's crying to the Lord,
bring my soul out of this prison. that I may praise thy name now
there's his motive that I may praise thy name I wonder if we don't pray a lot
of times Lord fix my problem so I can get on with life being
myself what I want to be and what I want to do oh no don't
miss this bring my soul out of prison why that I may praise
thy name and say oh Lord you've been good.
The righteous shall come pass me about for thou shalt deal
bountifully with me. He believed the Lord would deliver. So that's the thoughts I'm leaving
with you this morning. Refuge failing and refuge found. Any refuge you come up with will
be refuge failing. But in the Lord is refuge found. Amen.