“I cry out to the LORD; I plead for the LORD’s mercy. I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles. When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. Then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of prison so I can thank You. The Godly will crowd around me, for You are good to me.”– { Psalm 142:1-7} NLT
CLASS MEETS IN A CAVE!
God puts a high premium on prayer and faith that is anchored in Himself. And God has a classroom to develop that faith, not necessarily always EASY! Indeed faith comes by hearing and hearing by His Word. Some “classrooms” are where we see the goodness of the Lord in such a palatable way, others like for David in his spiritual development in learning to pray and trust God were against the background of a Cave! God has different “classrooms” where faith is tested, developed and sometimes like for David, “God’s Classroom Of Faith Sometimes, Meets In A Cave!” – Psalm 142 teaches us to pray and trust when we are in circumstance that are overwhelming, with no seeming way of escape, feeling alone and trapped, but God will work it for our good and His glory! As out of control David’s circumstances seemed to be God was perfectly in control. That is not always an easy lesson for us to learn. We are often so “sight” orientated we fail to trust God, that He is in control and we can rest in His character. His Sovereignty. His faithfulness. David had been promised that he would be future king someday. What an honor. Something to look forward to. What could go wrong? “It’s onwards and upwards” from being a shepherd boy to soon being king- at least it may look that way. There was just a little teeny weeny problem. Saul was king and had become jealous of David and was not willing to give up the crown so easily. Saul and his men were chasing David to kill him. This had become Saul’s obsession. David was a man on the run and now found himself in a cave. David was in a cave of difficulty. He was overwhelmed, enemies set traps for him. He looks in vain for someone to come and help him, but no one, not a one came to his assistance. No one would give him a passing thought, or any help. No one cared what would happen to him, is how he felt. He was in a tough, lonely place. He looked around and there was no hope- no help. How many of us could testify to that at sometime in our lives, but then in v 5 we see something change.
He lifted his eye of faith a little higher and he prayed to the LORD, and he TESTIFIED- He exercised faith in the LORD- whatever about men, “You are my place of Refuge,” he said. You are my place of my security, You LORD are this to me. He continues and says that the LORD is “my PORTION.” The LORD is personal to him ad the LORD is his security and satisfaction? He concludes with what it is he desires in his life- It is the LORD Himself. “You are all I really want in life.” When he felt alone- God was with him. God listened to him. God knew his pain. God was always with him, he was ever alone, for the LORD God was with him as He is with you. You are never alone, forsaken, abandoned, He is with you! When it “feels” no one cares or is there for you. GOD IS. HE ALWAYS CARES. HE IS ALWAYS WITH YOU! Remember He desires to be your Security and Satisfaction too, in your difficulties.
TURN YOUR CAVE INTO A PLACE OF PRAYER – AND HAVE AN AUDIENCE WITH YOUR KING!
David was on the run, hiding out in a cave but that does not mean he is shut out from an audience with the KING OF KING’S- God Himself! He was been chased and hounded by a human king, who was not “Almighty” though he may have believed so. David takes his troubles and care to the One who is Almighty. He turned the cave into a place of Prayer! Wherever you find yourself presently, know that God reigns Sovereignly! Saul’s breath was held in the hand of God. His very next heart beat in submission to God. As fearsome as circumstances can be and David will go on to honestly describe how he felt, the eyes of faith begin to see, though at times ever so dimly, slowly but assuredly, that the LORD Sits upon His Throne and all other “kings” are in submission to Him ultimately! David had a relationship with God that was personal, real and in his dark time he calls out to his KING- THE LORD GOD!
Note the honesty of David’s prayers and Whom they are Directed towards,in this psalm… -“I cry to the LORD… I plead for the Lord’s mercy. I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles… When I am overwhelmed,… You alone know the way I should turn….I pray to You, Lord…hear my cry, for I am very low,… rescue me… they are too strong for me… Bring me out of prison… so I can thank You… You are good to me…” {v 1-7}. He finds himself in a difficult place and in verse 6 he says, “…I am very low.” Here he was, David who had once been of such benefit to Saul and others when he killed Goliath and gave them deliverance was now hounded by them to do him harm. How painful that those whom you have most helped should forget and turn on you!
His honesty, transparency, he does not see himself as sufficient, he is very low during this event, yet he fights the fight of faith to PRAY AND FOCUS ON THE LORD, as he pours out his heart before the LORD, who alone is Sufficient.
David in v 1 – “cried to the LORD with his “voice.” v 2 He pours out his “complaint” Before the LORD who sits enthroned above all, surrounded by myriads and myriads of worshippers and every star, atom, existing by Him and for His pleasure. There is no rival who can overthrow Him. He is God, all things created by Him and for Him. The angels sing of His holiness. He is adored, the One who needs nothing to satisfy, inform or uphold. He never grows in wisdom nor does He diminish. He is perfect. His love towards us is everlasting. He rules and over-rules all things causing all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are the called. Before He spoke the worlds into existence or caused the birds to fly in the expanse of the skies, He chose us for Himself. He set His love upon us for no other reason than for His own pleasure and glory. And He who is our Heavenly Father is working all things even the times spent in the school of the cave for good. David would learn this, though it did not look promising as he was there, but God is at work for good for His own pleasure and those whom He has adopted into His family. I said “good,” that does not mean, “easy” and that we are kept from trials but we can know Him who keeps our soul safe in the trials! He has the power to keep us from trials or the power to grant grace sufficient for the trial. He is good. We live in a fallen world but with Him one day all at last will be put right.
PRESSURES WITHIN – {v-3a} -David knew of the pressures from Within. He uses the word, “Overwhelmed,” literally means, “darkened” and carries the idea of “fainting.” We might say, the person “blacked out, fainted.” David assures himself that the Lord knows all about his trial and the way he should turn. God knew the road he had been on, the twists and turns, He knew where he was now. He knew the roads he would take in the future and in resting in God’s Sovereignty and Omniscience David comforted himself. “You knew my path. In the way where I walk.” David spoke to the LORD and “knew,” that HE “knew” all. And that The LORD knew the “trap” his enemies had laid for him- v 3. What can keep us from literally blacking out spiritually through being overwhelmed? The comfort an confidence that the LORD knows about it. We are not alone. THE LORD is familiar- intimately so with his servant and the situation and the evil of others against him! He has an UNSEEN COMPANION with him on his journey of faith, the LORD , GOD, ALMIGHTY, Tender yet triumphant over all, is with him, to aid, assist him in this classroom of developing his faith!
PROBLEMS WITHOUT – { v- 3b} “In the way where I walk They have hidden a trap for me.” They tried to ensnare him like a beast. {See 140:5; 141:9}. The pressure without caused pressure within him. Saul and those with him who had authority were out to snare him, like some animal. They had no value for the man. Blinded by jealousy, hatred, they hounded to hurt him by which they sought to ensnare him. Their ultimate end was to kill David. “But God…” had made a promise that David in God’s time would be king and who could stop God? Some puny men? God knew about the traps and the problems without and the pressures within and He would not forsake His servant, and He does not forsake His servants today either, including you. “If God be for us, who can be against us…” {Romans 8:31}.
HE FELT FRIENDLESS –
A. SOCIALLY UNCARED FOR {Indifference} – { V 4} – He felt as though he had no friends. “Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me. No one cares for my soul.” No one sought David out to befriend, encourage him in his dilemma. No one, he felt cared for him, not a soul on the face of the earth. “Overwhelmed. There is no escape for me. No one cares for me.” He is at wit’s end. People distanced himself from him. When he killed Goliath he had plenty of friends, but when Saul turned against him, his friends abandoned him. To have no human companionship, the loneliness, isolation, he felt it dearly. Proverbs 17:17 reads, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” David found none such in his time of need!
B. SPIRITUALLY UNCARED FOR {indifference} – “NO ONE CARES FOR MY SOUL.” – Think of this phrase, “NO ONE CARES FOR MY SOUL.” Is there no one who cared for his spiritual well-being? No one to step forward with a verse of God’s Word to offer him hope in the midst of his pain. It is a sad day when a person says and believes, “NO ONE CARES FOR MY SOUL.” In the book of Acts a lame man lay across the path of two disciples, he was crippled and they said to him,” silver and gold have we none BUT in the Name of Jesus rise and walk.” They gave what they had! They cared enough for him to not walk past and fail to Care for his soul! “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News.”
V5-” I cried out to You, O LORD; I said You are my Refuge, My Portion in the land of the living.” NOTE- David’s focus.
“LORD” the word is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to speak of Him as the ” Self-Existent, Covenant Keeping, Unchanging, Sovereign, God.He is Creator, Owner,Master, Psalm 27:1,”A psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.”
While David had no human comfort or companionship, God Himself the maker of our hearts can calm our frayed emotions and impart peace in the Cave. This is the second time he cries out to “the LORD.”
Look at the good God is bringing out of the psalmist great difficulties, He is using them not to drive David away from Him, but drawing Him closer to Himself, in an intimate, personal way.
“My REFUGE,” – The LORD did not send him to some place to find refuge but to Himself, He would undertake. What a claim of faith is made towards the Lord. He and He alone is “My REFUGE.” My place of safety, security! The word was used of taking shelter from a storm and metaphorically from evil people, who seek to harm. “Refuge failed me … Thou art my refuge. Travellers tell us that they who are at the top of the Alps can see great showers of rain fall under them, but not one drop of it falls on them. They who have God for their portion are in a high tower, and thereby safe from all troubles and showers.”- George Swinnock. Though no one would care for David, he looked for refuge humanly and could find none, yet with the LORD, he found One who would never refuse him, Refuge! The LORD is his “Refuge.” We see David make his statement of faith in the midst of the storm all around Him. THE LORD IS MY REFUGE, My Shelter, my Safety, my Protector in all its form {as as is seen in Psalm 18:1-2}.
“My PORTION,” – You are All I need. You are Who I need. You are my sustenance, my sustainer, my all in all! You are My Sufficiency, my Satisfaction. In You I have all I need, or will ever need! The Psalmist once said, “With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.…” -Psalm 73: 24-26
Ps 119:57- “The LORD is My PORTION…”- Luther counsels every Christian to answer all temptations with this short saying, “Christianus sum,” I am a Christian; and I would counsel every Christian to answer all temptations with this short saying, “The Lord is my portion.” O Christian, when Satan or the world shall tempt thee with honours, answer, “The Lord is my portion”; when they shall tempt thee with riches, answer, “The Lord is my portion”; when they shall tempt thee with preferments, answer, “The Lord is my portion”; and when they shall tempt thee with the favours of great ones, answer, “The Lord is my portion”; yea, and when this persecuting world shall threaten thee with the loss of thy estate, answer, “The Lord is my portion”: and when they shall threaten thee with the loss of thy liberty, answer, “The Lord is my portion”; and when they shall threaten thee with the loss of friends, answer, “The Lord is my portion”; and when they shall threaten thee with the loss of life, answer, “The Lord is my portion.” O, sir, if Satan should come to thee with an apple, as once he did to Eve, tell him that “the Lord is your portion”; or with a grape, as once he did to Noah, tell him that “the Lord is your portion”; or with a change of raiment, as once he did to Gehazi, tell him that “the Lord is your portion”; or with a wedge of gold, as once he did to Achan, tell him that “the Lord is your portion”; or with a bag of money, as once he did to Judas, tell him that “the Lord is your portion”; or with a crown, a kingdom, as once he did to Moses, tell him that “the Lord is your portion.” Thomas Brooks.
Psalm 119Verse 57. “The LORD is my PORTION.” -. God is all sufficient; get him for your “portion”, and you have all; then you have infinite wisdom to direct you, infinite knowledge to teach you, infinite mercy to pity, and save you, infinite love to care and comfort you, and infinite power to protect and keep you. If God be yours, all his attributes are yours; all his creatures, all his works of providence, shall do you good, as you have need of them. He is an eternal, full, satisfactory portion. He is an ever living, ever loving, ever present friend; and without him you are a cursed creature in every condition, and all things will work against you. John Mason, –1694.
“DELIVERER” – V 6 “Give heed to my Cry, For I am brought Very low: Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me.” – AGAIN He tirns to the LORD and tells him, how “very low” he is. His enemies are “too strong for me,” he asks the LORD TO DELIVERER him. He knows the LORD has the power to Deliverer. Again we see he knows something of the character of the LORD- He is the LORD the DELIEVER! In and of himself he knows he is insufficient but God is more than sufficient to rescue and deliverer him from his enemies.
v7-“Bring my soul out of prison, So that I may give Thanks to Your Name; The Righteous will surround me. For YOU WILL DEAL BOUNTIFFULY WITH ME. ” It was in the Cave he turns to the LORD and talks to Him, spilling his heart, concern’s to Him and from this Psalm he gives us a small glimpse into God’s character- LORD, MERCIFUL, REFUGE, PORTION, DELIVERER, RESCUER, GOOD,RUSTWORTHY, APPROACHABLE, CARING GOD!
NOTE- David’s DESIRE FOR DELIVERANCE- He ends with another prayer, “DELIVER {Bring} my soul out of prison, So that I may give Thanks to Your Name; The Righteous will surround me. For YOU WILL DEAL BOUNTIFFULY WITH ME.”- Here is where his faith is deepened. He asks not to be delivered for relief sake, but …
1. – FOR THE LORD’S GLORY – “SO THAT I may GIVE THANKS{PRAISE} TO YOUR NAME”- For the LORD’S Sake . He wants Him to receive Praise and Thanks due Him.
2. – TO TESTIFY TO THE LORD-” And the righteous will surround me. For You will deal bountifully with me.”
What a mature statement of faith he utters, he wants deliverance so the LORD can get the glory and others here the testimony! In the Cave his prayers and faith were deepened!
I cannot express how utterly exhausted I am from this latest battle of pain that have laid me low for eight months now in bed or beside my bed in a chair, the sleep deprivation compounds things. At times the medicines seem to work against me. My only hope has been His Word to steady me, encourage me and give me hope. Who but God could grant hope to generations from the words of the Psalmist written so long ago and yet fresh as though they were written by ourselves, “I am very low.” But faith arises in the dark place, the place of despair, of spiritual foes, and the Holy Spirit reminds us of truth God is-LORD- our personal REFUGE, our PORTION, Sufficiency, and teaches us to pray and to trust Him, not for deliverance for deliverance sake- but.. for HIS NAME’S SAKE- HIS Glory!
Our Caves should teach us to pray and to TRUST God more and more. To lean upon Him and to desire to come forth so as to give God the praise. He would be the Spotlight and Star…. and that we would tell others of Him.
“If your troubles do not lead you to go deeper in faith and prayer, you’re missing the lesson of the cave! Let your loneliness, gloom, and despair make you cry out to the Lord to bring your soul out of prison, so that you may give thanks to His name! The Lord knows you’re there. Let the cave hear your best prayers!” Stephen Cole.
Sometimes, God’s classroom meets in a Cave. Sometimes God’s people meet with God in the cave!
The Classroom of the Cave is not meant to make us INDEPENDANT of the LORD but more and more DEPENDANT upon Him!
TURN YOUR CAVE INTO A PLACE OF PRAYER – AND HAVE AN AUDIENCE WITH YOUR KING!
1. – IT IS WHOM WE TURN TO IN THE CRISIS- Reveals to ourselves where our faith is anchored in that moment. This does not mean perfection but a new direction.- He cries out to the LORD-this is the first ACT we See Of the person of faith- Who they turn to in trouble. David turns to the LORD- in the classroom of faith- in the difficult place, the tendency we see is his cry initially to the LORD. He does not sugarcoat the difficulty. indeed these words, “I am very low”- in verse 6 tells us so much about this poor soul.
2. – PRAYER is an admission to God of our own Insufficiency and God’s Sufficiency. Talk to Him. Tell Him of your troubles, feelings. He already knows. Faith pleases Him and your talking to Him about it and trusting Him by doing so is pleasing to Him.
3. PRAYER AND FAITH GO HAND IN HAND. THE FOCUS ON GOD. God uses difficulties to develop us into people of DEPENDANCE upon Him. Prayer and faith in Him, go hand in Hand with Him.
4. BE CONSIDERATE of others who may be going through God’s classroom of Faith that is meeting in a Cave presently. Who better to empathize, intercede compassionately than you who have known, “God’s classroom of prayer and faith sometimes meet in a Cave!”
5. BE PRAISING and TESTIFYING- v -7 – ” Bring my soul out of prison, So that I may GIVE THANKS to Your name; The righteous will surround me, For You will deal bountifully with me.” {Note- “….You will…” the attitude of faith! }, BEGIN THE THANKSGIVING NOW- by faith in His faithfulness!
God is not out to destroy you but developing a person of prayer and faith. Displaying Himself to you and through you, to His Glory!
In that classroom there is you the apprentice, God the Master, teaching you personally to pray, to trust Him and to be the closest of Friends to you! For David, his classroom just happened to be a cave and a bunch of people seeking to kill him that was been used for good by God in drawing David closer to Himself and developing him into a man of dependence upon God and a man of prayer!
“GOD’S CLASSROOM, SOMETIMES MEETS IN A CAVE!”
Whether it be this life time or in the next faith will see Him and forever you will be with the KING OF KINGS and no more Caves’ No more need of faith. For faith gives way to Sight! As difficult as the caves are, how much more splendid for eternity will be the sight of Him who sits upon the THRONE!