None but You
Scripture Reading: Psalm 142
A Maskil[a] of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
142 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.
David wrote this when he was at a low point in his life. He was, as the title tells us, in a cave. He was being pursued by his enemies. He was a fugitive.
Reading it honestly, one has to conclude that David’s emotions were getting the best of him. When we said, “No one cares for my soul,” that wasn’t quite true. He had his men, men who were willing to sacrifice their own lives to preserve his. But that doesn’t negate how he felt about his plight.
It has been said that “facts don’t care about your feelings.” Well, feelings often don’t care about your facts. And you feel how you feel. And David felt alone and discouraged.
Notice that in verse four David said that there was no refuge left for him, but he turns around and says to God, “You are my refuge.”
Sometimes the distress brought on by failed human relationships is the catalyst that drives us to seek and find in Christ what we desire and can’t find in other people. David wanted a refuge and failed to find security in other people. This crisis turned his heart toward the Lord, and in God, he discovered the refuge he longed for.
It might well be that whatever disappointment you feel towards other people and how they have not met your expectations, is meant to be the thing that drives you to seek what you are looking for in its true Source.
