The Cry From The Cave

The Cry From The Caves

Psa 142:1-7

The book of Psalms it a book that deals with practically every human emotion. If you’re dealing with an emotional problem, you’ll probably find something in the Psalms that you can identify with. It is an extremely honest book revealing the inter thoughts, struggles, and needs of Godly men such as David.

Tonight I want us to look at David’s cry from the caves.

I. The Condition Of David

V1 shares with us the circumstances surrounding this Psalm. It was a prayer that David prayed while in the cave hiding from King Saul who was seeking to kill him ! David was inside a physical cave, but he was also in a spiritual cave as well !

a. His Spirit Was In Darkness. V3

When my spirit was overwhelmed..............

The word "overwhelmed" means clothed or shrouded. David was in a literal cave where the light was limited !

Yet, the greater darkness was in his spirit ! He was overwhelmed inside !

The fact that the man of God, David, he that had been chosen to be the future King of Israel was overwhelmed reminds us of his humaness. It reminds us that anyone is subject to periods of darkness, despair, discouragement, or despression !

Can you identify with David ? Overwhelmed with pressure ? with problems ? with just life in general ?

How do we escape the darkness which permeates our soul at times ?

Illust. It had long been noticed in European countries that people developed depression during the long dark days of winter. Back in the early 1980s, a handful of experts at the National Institute of Mental Health had an idea: If people get depressed when the days get darker, why not just give them more light?

They tested their theory on Herb Kern, a 63-year-old research engineer who fell into a deep depression every autumn. They asked Kern to sit in front of a large box fitted with fluorescent tubes for three hours before dawn and three hours after sunset every day.

It worked. Three days later, Kern was smiling again. In the 15 years since then, further studies have shown the effectiveness of light therapy for patients with winter depression, known medically as seasonal affective disorder or SAD.

Let me use this for a spiritual application........how can we overcome being overwhelmed with darkness ! Get more of the Light ! Get closer to the Light ! Spend more time in the LIGHT !

b. His Steps Were In Danger V3

David, had been nothing but loyal, to Saul ! He had done nothing to deserve the jealous rage that Saul felt for him. David’s steps are in danger because Saul is seeking to kill him !

c. His Soul Was Deserted. V4

In all of the Bible there are few words that are sadder than these.......V4 I looked on my right hnd, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said......."Loneliness and the feeling of being uncared for and unwanted are the greatest poverty."

Is there a more empty feeling in the human heart than to be lonely, and feel that no one cares !

Most of us have gone through times in our life of loneliness, and we’ve probably all had some times when we wondered if anyone cared.

Perhaps, you need to be reminded tonight that you are loved, and cared for !

Perhaps you need to tell or show someone else that we care...that God indeed cares !

You go through a big city such as Atlanta at night, and you see all the lights, and the activity, and everything seems to be so alive.......but somewhere in that city........someone sits in darkness........someone feels deserted............someone feels that no one cares !

The world we live in needs to know that we care....that God cares !

Sara Teasdale was an American Poet. She won numerous awards for her poetry including the Columbia University Poetry Society Award, the Pulitzer Price for Poetry, and the Poetry Prize from the American Poetry Society.

My soul is a dark ploughed field

In the cold rain;

My soul is a broken field

Ploughed by pain. - Sara Teasdale (1884-1933).

Sara Teasdale died of a overdose of sleeping pills !

Illust. A few years ago, the press carried a heartrending story of a young father who shot himself in a tavern telephone booth. James Lee had called a Chicago newspaper and told a reporter he had sent the paper a manila envelope outlining his story. The reporter frantically tried to trace the call, but was too late. When the police arrived the young man was slumped in the booth with a bullet through his head. In his pockets they found a child’s crayon drawing, much folded and worn. On it was written, "Please leave in my coat pocket. I want to have it buried with me." The drawing was signed in childish print by his daughter, Shirley Lee, who had perished in a fire just five months before. Lee was so grief-stricken he had asked total strangers to attend his daughter’s funeral so she would have a nice service. He said there was no family to attend, since Shirley’s mother had been dead since the child was two. Speaking to the reporter before his death, the heartbroken father said that all he had in life was gone and he felt so alone. He gave his modest estate to the church Shirley had attended and said, "Maybe in ten or twenty years, someone will see one of the plaques and wonder who Shirley Ellen Lee was and say, ’Someone must have loved her very, very much."’ The grieving father could not stand loneliness or the loss so he took his own life. He felt it better to be dead than live in an impersonal world.