“Cave Buster” Psalms 142
I started this with a really interesting “opener” but the further that I dug into the scripture the more I realized that the opener would not do this scripture justice. At the risk of disappointing my son who really liked the opening illustration… I instead want us to dive right into these words. I want to paint a mental picture of both the realities of this scripture and of the reality of hope they provide.
(Read Psalms 142) In Psalms 142 David is alone and in great trouble.
It will be helpful for us to understand the situation that he is in if we are to know how this applies to us.
David is running, he is running from a very serious problem. After killing Goliath he had entered into military service for Saul. But with all his natural ability and success plus God’s hand upon him Saul had become extremely jealous and now Saul sought to kill David. So David ran.
I really like the “title” that is given to this psalm – “when he was in the cave.” It is one of the few psalms that give you a picture of where David physically is as this is written. We are privy to a most intimate prayer. David fled, he ran from Saul and he was fleeing for his life. He had nothing - no provisions, he had no followers and he had nowhere to turn. He is in a desperate situation, isolated and lonely.
In the height of his fear he ran into the depths of this cave. The cave for David was both real and spiritual. And it was there in the damp cold darkness that the fear gripped at his heart and overwhelmed his soul. It is here, in that moment that David did the only thing he could do… the only thing that would not only sustain him but that would break through the walls that surrounded him and set him free from this prison.
HE PRAYED- He poured out his heart and his distress to God. There was no pretense, there were no fancy words.
There was no hidden agenda – just a pure and simple cry for help from a scared, tired and lonely man.
I truly believe that today many of us can relate to where David is. Oh, not many of us actually hide in real caves today… but we do separate ourselves, mentally, spiritually, sometimes physically.
Sometimes we do feel as though we are all alone in the cold dark moments of our lives. As though there was no one around, no one at our right hand to call friend and that every step we take it seems like someone has laid a trap to trip us up. We can relate to where David is can’t we?
Alone, no one seems to care… cold and dark…no one to call a friend; it is as if it is us against the world. It is in that very moment that you feel discouragement and despair. This feeling of being utterly alone and helpless comes to us in a few ways…there is
The CRUSHED- Those whose world is pressing in, on and around you. David would say in verse 3, “my spirit is overwhelmed within me…”
Have you ever felt overwhelmed?
It could be that you are a new Christian or maybe one who has suddenly been renewed… and you find that those around you have actually become your persecutors. They find your tender spots and they pick and poke away at them. It can become overwhelming, so much so that your heart feels alone and friendless. Like David you feel that those against you are stronger and more powerful… that the only thing you can do is to - run and hide in a cave…
Or maybe you are The CONVICTED- It is a paradox that the more you run away from God the more HE chases after you. Too often when God’s Spirit is convicting your heart of sin - the choice you make is to run deeper into the darkness. You don’t want to be exposed… so instead you run and isolate your heart and separate your soul from the very One who can actually set you free.
When you have put yourself in the prison of sin – it is only the prayer of repentance that will release you from the prison you have created.
The CONDITIONED –
Have you ever noticed that when God is about to use you in a great way that He makes you hungry before He feeds you, He makes you nothing before He makes you something. That was David’s case. David was being shaped, prepared for a greater future. No he didn’t know it at the time, how could he.
But for many who God plans on using for His kingdom they will face a time when they feel alone. Yet it is there that they cannot turn their backs on the God that they will serve.
You may feel your spiritual life is dried up for some reason that you’re in a spiritual darkness.
If you have suddenly found yourself alone, as if you could no longer hear God… keep praying – it very well could be that God is conditioning you for a greater service and this cave is your time of preparation and rest.
But what ever it is that has you locked into a prison - It is there just like David– that the only remedy is to turn to God in prayer. It is where everything else is stripped away - it is just you and God. And as simple as that may sound…It is there that we find our greatest of hope, our most gracious of promises, David understood that even in his loneliest of hours – he could have a hope – and that God would not only sustain him but would deliver him.
If you find yourself in that place the answer, the only real answer is to PRAY… but how? Take the example from David.
Cry ALOUD - David would say – “I cry aloud… I lift up my voice…”
When he said, “with my voice I cry to God…” This was not just a heart silently praying. It was an outward, verbal and loud cry.
I wonder if your prayers, our prayers are like that. If you are a Christian you may pray, you may read the Bible, go to church… but do you cry aloud to God in our greatest of needs.
In easy times our prayers are easy, we try to fill them with flowery words or eloquent speech. But in the dark troubles our prayers take on a new urgency.
David found no shame in calling out to God, and neither should you.
• Tell Him – how you tried, Tell Him – your faults, Tell Him – your sins, Tell Him – the darkest of secrets you wouldn’t even tell the wind… Tell Him everything…
• Tell the Lord all your grief’s, all your complaints all your miseries, all your fears… get it out and find your soul released from prison…
Unfortunately it will often take the feeling of loneliness and isolation to bring you to a point where you strip away pretense and simply cry out to HIM… in doing that you just -
ADMIT your need – The aim of prayer is not to force God’s hand or make Him do your will against His own, but to deepen your knowledge of Him and your fellowship with Him through contemplating His glory, confessing your dependence and need, and consciously embracing His goals.
Jesus would say later that whatever you asked in His name (that is in God’s will) He would do…
Be AWARE of God’s presence. -
No matter where you are, no matter how alone you feel – God is there. In the valley, in the cave or in the prison of your heart – God is only as far away as the heart willing to pray. There is no place that you can go; no place that you can hide - that God’s Spirit is not available to you, that He cannot be by your side.
In verse 3 – David would say - “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path…” God knew where David was and David knew God was there… He knows where you are… you can know that He is there.
You see - It is not the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they are;
It is not the geometry of our prayers, how long they are; or the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be;
It is not the logic of our prayers, how argumentative it is; which God cares for.
It is the fervent spirit of our prayer that which avails much!
You may say that this doesn’t apply to you … but I dare say that you are fooling yourself.
There has been; There is now or There will soon be a time in your life that you are in “a cave…locked in a prison.” A lot of us have - “been there, done that and have the scars to prove it…”
But I want to encourage you today… if you feel like you are being crushed by some situation or circumstance you only need to cry out and God will not only comfort you but He will set your heart free.
If you are being conditioned admit your need to God and let His strength be your strength… but if you are being convicted at the very heart, be aware that God is trying to break the bars of that prison of guilt and shame… be aware that He wants to come and forgive…
All of this hope, all of this promise, all of this freedom from the prison in your heart and soul
- is only a prayer away…
