Psalm 142
The first thing we see in this Psalm is the descriptive label placed over it in English translations. When written in the Hebrew, these descriptions would actually have been part of the Psalm and so should be carefully considered when studying these Psalms out.
We are told that this Psalm is a maskil and scholars differ on what that means. Some say it refers to a musical term that may have told how it was to be played. That’s like a music leader telling his musicians that a song is to be played like a soft waltz. That’s one idea that folks have. Other scholars believe it means it is a teaching Psalm. For me, I think that’s probably right because the description gives a strong clue to the Psalm’s overall meaning, but I’ll get back to that in the conclusion.
I want you to look at the strong emotion that is descriptive of David’s prayer. There are some very strong words here in the first few verses.
“I Cry out Loud!”
“I Lift up my voice” or the CEB “I beg out loud”
“I pour out my complaint” or the CEB “I pour out my concerns”
“Before him I tell him I tell my trouble” or the CEB “I announce my distress to Him!”
The first thing I want you to see is that David got loud. His prayer was emotional. It wasn’t a quiet meeting with God, but an emotional appeal that would have been quite audible.
I believe most prayers should be audible. Jesus said, “When you pray, SAY..” and then offered the model prayer of submission to God. He didn’t say “When you pray, meditate” or “When you pray, think”—he said—“Say”--- A prayer seeking salvation should be audible. For whosoever shall CALL upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul writes in Romans 10 that the heart believes but the mouth confesses. One of the root problems in thinking I was saved was praying a silent prayer for salvation, one that I did not understand, and one that was never put into words. I publicly confessed salvation, but I hadn’t really called upon the Lord, instead I had simply reflected on my own personal desire to be saved.
Now some say—now wait a minute, Pastor. Recently you begin initiating each service with a “Call to Order” where you ask us to be quiet, meditate on God’s goodness and His purpose for our presence, and finally, silent prayer. How can you challenge us to prepare for worship by silent prayer and then turn around and say prayers should be audible? Note that I said “I believe most prayers should be audible.” Remember that Nehemiah, before the King of the Medes and Persians was asked a question and Nehemiah says that he prayed within himself before answering. There are certainly times when we need to stop and pray within our Spirit alone. I know that there are times before I respond to someone, like Nehemiah, I silently ask God to give me the right words.
I’m also not advocating that all of your prayers be loud. Can you imagine if I arose early in the morning and went to my desk (in my garage, which is a combination office and game room)—did my Bible reading and then began shouting to the Lord about my needs, etc. Waking the whole household or neighborhood with loud praying makes no sense either.
Prayers need to be spoken because the mouth makes confession of our need before the Lord. Our prayers become like sweet incense, rising to heaven, where they bless God. When we say something aloud to God we begin to become honest, especially about our intense need of His rescue, His help, His righteousness, and so forth. We don’t speak aloud because God doesn’t know our need or know our heart. We speak aloud because that which we say aloud strengthens our belief once we have said it. Our mouths do not speak creative words, but when we appeal to God verbally it strengthens our hearts, our resolve, and our commitment to what we are praying.
David says that God already knows what’s going on in his life. He says in verse three that even when his spirt is weak God still knows his way. God still knows the circumstances, but sometimes it is important that we confess “I am weak, but thou art strong!” When we feel spiritually weak, we can only refill at the throne of grace, as we seek God’s spirit, God’s grace, God’s help, and God’s provision for our lives.
Admitting weakness is a sign of spiritual strength. For if we are spiritually strong without God then we are only experiencing a false sense of confidence in ourselves—a demonstration of sinful pride.
David declares that his enemies had prepared a snare for him. This was exactly the case. King Saul was pursuing him and had filled the area with his soldiers, and essentially David was surrounded, much like the burglar who is trapped on the block by a police perimeter. Indeed, David was in trouble, and he declared that nobody was concerned about his problems. Oh, David had some men with him, but nothing compared to the army Saul brought out to the wilderness to use to kill David.
So David cries to God, admitting that God is all he has. His forces are outnumbered, he doesn’t have a clever plan to escape, he is hiding in a cave, hoping the army will slip by him, but he knows that he is almost certainly trapped.
Once again, David gets loud. “Listen to my Cry” (NIV) is rendered “Pay Close attention to my shouting!” in the CEB. He declares his need for deliverance from his enemies and notes that he feels imprisoned. Since he was trapped in this area he was right—he was in prison—he couldn’t simply run away. God’s deliverance would give him cause to thank God. God’s deliverance would allow righteous men to come and join him when they saw God’s goodness.
Now, here’s another important point that I don’t want you to miss. People around you need to see God’s blessings on your life. They need you to testify of God’s goodness so that your faith, your way of life, your Christian walk will become attractive to them.
My wife’s cousin Duane was assigned to work with a man he didn’t care for. The man was a complainer and one who cursed regularly. Duane asked him if he could moderate his language and the man agreed to do so if Duane would stop talking about religion to him. For a number of years Duane worked alongside this man. Once in awhile, he would be able to share a tidbit of God’s goodness to him. After several years, one night this man called Duane and asked Duane to come to his house. He told Duane that his life was a shambles but that he had observed how Duane had peace, and how Duane dealt with troubles, and he said “I need what you have!” That night the man gave his heart to the Lord.
Do those around you hear you speaking of the blessings of the Lord or do they just hear your complaints? Paul wrote to the Philippians that they were to do all things without arguing or complaining. If Christians would stop complaining about the stuff that goes wrong in their lives and start thanking God regularly and publicly for their blessings then people would be attracted to the faith. Righteous people would desire to be around you. This was especially important to David as he waited for God to remove Saul from the throne and place David upon it. David had decided that he would not place himself upon the throne.
Finally, let’s get back to that cave. This is a story every Jewish boy and girl would know. You may have heard it in Sunday School. Saul goes into the cave to “cover his feet” (older translations). I searched multiple translations in this study and almost all of them said “to relieve himself.” Some scholars suggest that “covering his feet” is an ancient polite way of saying going to the restroom. He may have done that, too. However, David slips up and cuts off a piece of his robe. I cannot believe that was an easy feat unless Saul was asleep. Saul, normally slept with his men, but a cave would be an excellent place to privately “relieve himself” and then rest. The Hebrews were not public about bathroom activities and exposing themselves, so Saul may have sought the privacy, but I think he had to be asleep for David to cut off the piece of his robe. Think about it this way—if you take a the sharpest knife you have in your house and attempt to cut a dishrag of towel, it isn’t that easy. A pair of scissors might do it quietly and without much use of force. So cutting a piece of a person’s clothing without his knowledge wouldn’t be impossible, but it would be difficult. I think Saul was tired from chasing and searching for David and took advantage of the heat of the day to take a nap and that’s when David took the piece of the robe.
David’s men wanted him to kill Saul. After Saul left the cave, David felt guilt about shaming Saul and came out and called out to Saul. He told Saul that he was not a threat. He held up the piece of the robe and declared to Saul how he could have killed Saul, but did not. He declared that Saul was his master and he would never raise his hand against him. When he finished, Saul stated the obvious. “You are more righteous than I.” Saul admitted that he knew that one day God would rip the kingdom from his control and give it to David. He asked David to show compassion to his descendants when he arose to the throne. (David did so, by the way).. Then Saul went home.
Now, here’s where I think we get the final point of this lesson. Without knowing this story from I Samuel 24, we wouldn’t understand that Saul declared David to be in the right and that David was righteous. What do you think happened after that? It’s not recorded in Scripture, but I think that there were men who said—“I want to be on the side of righteousness!” and came out and joined David. I think God not only answered his prayer to be delivered when he was surrounded and outnumbered. I think God began to send righteous men to join him.
When righteous men stand up, others are given the strength to join them. When Patrick Henry declared “I know not what course others may take, but as for me—Give me liberty or give me death!” it was a powerful moment in history as more and more people joined the American Revolutionaries seeking independence and liberty. I cannot help but think, to some extent, if God answered the rest of David’s prayer, why this would not be answered as well.
