Psalm 142
A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
With my voice I cry out to the Lord;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
2 I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit faints within me,
you know my way!
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look to the right and see:
there is none who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
no one cares for my soul.
5 I cry to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Attend to my cry,
for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me!
7 Bring me out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
for you will deal bountifully with me.
Sermon quotes and references
David’s pathway – and the privilege of possessing his autobiographical psalms – ought to alert us to the foundational truth that ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord’ (Isa. 55:8). How I wish that we might learn this lesson – for every unexpected, unwanted, even seemingly meaningless, hurtful & destructive experience that takes us by surprise comes under the same heading. No, it’s not pointless. It is all part of a plan devised by a higher wisdom than we can ever know. These psalms belong to a very low time indeed in David’s life – and they are in the Bible so that we might learn what the real truth is about our lowest times, & how we are to understand & handle them. – Alec Motyer, The Psalms
David departed from there & escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him … And there were with him about four hundred men. –I Samuel 22.1-2
David’s life anticipates the life of the Lord Jesus … Psalm 142 prepares its audience for the coming of the Man of sorrows, the One acquainted with grief, from whom men would hide their faces. Like David before him, Jesus would make his Father his refuge and portion, His only hope in the land of the living, entrusting himself to God in the days of His suffering. The righteous by faith do indeed gather to the son of David, with whom the Father has indeed dealt bountifully. – James Hamilton, Studies in the Psalms