BEN F. VICK, JR.
Have you ever been so “down,” so depressed that you felt like no one cared about you? Maybe you went through some rough times and thought, “Does anyone care about my circumstances, or about me?” I suppose that all of us have gone through some valleys. I think in the garden of Gethsemane, the Son of God, the Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief, did. David certainly did. The 142nd Psalm expresses the overwhelming of his soul. It reads:
Maschil 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 shewed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then thou knewest 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. (Psa. 142.)
The heading says, “Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.” The marginal note on “Maschil” is “A Psalm of David, giving instruction.” It is believed that this prayer of David’s was when he was fleeing from King Saul. He had gone to Gath, but when the servants of King Achish realized this was the man of whom the women had sung, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands,” David had to feign being crazy. Thus, King Achish wanted him gone. So, David had to escape to the cave of Adullam, near the Philistine border. He was all alone. A man without a country; a man who thought he had no friend. He wrote this psalm having looked back on that occasion.
He wrote, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.” (Psa. 142:1.) It was lonely in that cave. He called out, not to men, but to the Lord. It was not a silent prayer (1 Sam. 1:9-13). With his voice, with his voice, he cried out, he made supplication to the Lord. On those days and nights, as he watched his father’s sheep, he may have cried out to God many times. Prayer was not foreign to him. He knew upon whom to call.
David cried, “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked Have they privily laid a snare for me.” (Psa. 142:2-3.) When his spirit was overwhelmed within him, he poured out his complaint to God. He told God of his state of unfavorable circumstances, focusing on the emotional pain and distress of his situation. One might say: Does not God know what things we need before we ask him? Yes, he knows all, but he still calls upon us to express our heart’s concerns to him. David did.
Has your spirit ever been overwhelmed within you? Have you ever felt so faint mentally that you did not know where to turn? David was mentally overwhelmed to the point of being feeble. What did David do? He poured out his complaint to God. He showed God his trouble.
God knew David’s path. He knew that David’s enemies were secretly setting a snare for him. David took his troubles to God in prayer.
David relates his circumstance in that dark, dank, and depressing cave. Years later, he wrote, “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.” (Psa. 142:4.) Someone at your right hand would be your closest confidant, one upon whom you could lean. But David, at that moment, had no one. Jonathan was not around. No one knew him; that is, no one approved of him. David had fled from his house to Naioth in Ramah to Nob to Gath, and now he was in the cave, all alone. Refuge failed him; there was no place of safety. And he cried, “No man cared for my soul.” Where does one turn when he feels he has nowhere to turn? No one understands. Have you ever felt like no one understands your situation? If so, to whom or what do you turn?
David answers, “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.” (Psa. 142:5-7.) Ah, there is the answer. One should turn to the Lord, cry unto him. David affirms to the Lord, “Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.” God was his safety net. He can be ours too. David continued, “Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low.” That was his situation. Hear his supplication: “Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison [the prison of despair and depression]….” Is that your prayer at times when you are down? Or do you look for crutches that will do you no good in the long run?
David’s supplication was, “Deliver me from my persecutors…bring my soul out of prison.” For what purpose? Is it simply that I might feel better? No, oh no. David gave the reason: “That I may praise thy name.” When that happens, the righteous will surround him, and God would deal bountifully with him. So shall it be for us.
Not long after this plea for Divine help, when his brethren and all of his father’s house heard, they went down to him. The historian also tells us, “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.” (1 Sam. 22:1-2.)
So, when you are in the cave of Adullam, remember David’s psalm and Peter’s exhortation: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:7.)