“I cry aloud to the Lord ; I plead aloud to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him. Although my spirit is weak within me, You know my way. Along this path I travel they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see: no one stands up for me; there is no refuge for me; no one cares about me. I cry to You, Lord ; I say, “You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the living.” Listen to my cry, for I am very weak. Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Free me from prison so that I can praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because You deal generously with me. Psalms 142:1‭-‬7
David was in trouble! He wasn’t yet he King of Israel, although it was common knowlege that he would be the King someday. The current King, Saul, was very upset and intemidated by David, so he decided to kill David before David could become King. As a result, David was hiding from Saul in a cave in a place called Adullam, along with about 400 men who were with him who were “desperate, in dept or discontenned”, who had appointed him as their leader (I Samuel 22-24). In despiration, David cried out to God. In so doing, David pleads with God for mercy. He poured his heart out to God and disclosed his trouble to God! He states, “although my spirit is weak within me, You know my way” (vs 3). He asks God to remember his heart and his love for God, even though he’s weak-hearted at this particular moment. He talks to God about the traps that have been set for him, about how no one cares for or stands up for him and about the traps that had been laid for him. Then his prayer “turns a corner” in vs 5 whan he says, but “You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the living.” Though David’s being pursued by a very presistant enemy, whom he could easily kill if given the chance (but wouldn’t, out of respect for the office or position of the king-I Samuel 24), was fighting his own despiration and loneliness and felt as if no one was on his side, he DECIDED TO TAKE REFUSE IN GOD! Though he felt weak, abondoned and isolated, David asked God to rescue him and He did!
God’s not intemidated by our troubles, weaknesses or even sin. Like David, we can cry out to him, from our perspective, whether accurate or not and out of our weakness (after all, David really did have at least these 400 men on his side). We can tell Him the truth about how we feel, for He knows it anyway! Best of all, we can, like David, can DECIDE to take refuse in God! He can and will be our hiding place, no matter how big or bad our enemy is!
DECIDE to cry out to God today-He’s waiting for you! Think about it!