With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! (Ps 142:1-3)
While David is writing Psalm 142, he is hiding in a cave with 600 of his men while Saul, the present king, out of mere jealousy towards David, seeks to kill him with 6,000 of his bravest men. Consider them 6,000 ‘Navy Seals’ of our time. David only has 1/10th of the army of Saul and if we are to look at military strategy today, David had no chance of surviving.
In I Samuel 16, Samuel anoints David to be future king. David’s insurmountable trust in God is based on the promises of God’s Word: what He says God will do and who God says He is. He cries out to God and shares His pain with Him. He seeks God as His refuge.
His trust is so unwavering in God he has an opportunity to protect himself by killing Saul when he goes into the cave to relieve himself. However, because David does not want to interfere with God’s plans, he only cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe. Later, David comes out of the cave and bows before Saul. He shows him the corner of the robe and says, “Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.”
Some of you may feel you are in your own ‘cave’ overwhelmed by your circumstances. You may feel all odds are against you. You may feel like your life is caving in and you are desperate for someone to save you from your circumstances. Some of you may have been betrayed by someone when the only thing you have done is live righteously and love rightly.
During these times, it may be tempting to take life ‘by the horns’ and control your circumstances. After all, isn’t that what the world considers a ‘strong person’? However, as much as David feared His life, He trusted God more. As a result, Saul came to his own conclusion that David is more righteous than him and David has been anointed by God to be the future king (I Sam 24:17).
Whatever you are going through, can I encourage you to pour your heart out to God and find refuge in Him? Can I encourage you to take God at His Word? He is who He says He is. He will defend you and He will set you up on a high rock when all is said and done.
Edna Lee
