" I cry out loudly to God, loudly I plead with God for mercy. I spill out all my complaints before him, and spell out my troubles in detail: ‘As I sink in despair, my spirit ebbing away, you know how I’m feeling, Know the danger I’m in, the traps hidden in my path. Look right, look left— there’s not a soul who cares what happens! I’m up against it, with no exit— bereft, left alone. I cry out, God, call out: ‘You’re my last chance, my only hope for life!’ Oh listen, please listen; I’ve never been this low. Rescue me from those who are hunting me down; I’m no match for them. Get me out of this dungeon so I can thank you in public. Your people will form a circle around me and you’ll bring me showers of blessing!’" (Psalm 142, The Message).
I don’t know about you, but there are times I have "been there" with David. Certainly not to the extent he was in when he uttered these words (an enemy of the state; hunted by Saul and forced to hide in the cave of Adullam (See 1 Sam. 22 for the background). Never-the-less I believe that it is true that when we find ourselves in despair of any sort, these words express perfectly how we feel.
Perhaps you are in your own cave of desperation today. Like David you see no real way out. You are alone, afraid, and like David see yourself in the lowest low of your life. Let me encourage you: God is there with you! Never forget that. He has not abandoned you. He knows your suffering intimately, and if he has allowed it, you can be sure that there is some great purpose behind it.
Alan Redpath reminds us, "There is nothing -- no circumstance, no trouble, no testing -- that can touch me until, first of all it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with some great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is."
What about you? Can you rest in the knowledge that "he has your back"?
