"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living." —Psalm 142:3-5
This Psalm, like numerous others, carries a title which reads in part, “A prayer of David when he was in the cave.” David was in a cave on more than one occasion, and dedicated Bible students go to some lengths in an effort to decide which occasion is here referred to. It doesn’t really matter. Sufficient to know the general circumstances under which psalm was written.
Have you ever been in a cave? Alone? In the dark? It is an eerie experience! Few places are more oppressive, lonely and potentially terrifying. And the literal setting is a fine illustration of the “caves” some find themselves in when life’s circumstances seem overwhelming.
David describes himself as hunted by his enemies; “they have privily laid a snare for me,” forsaken by his friends; “there was no man that would know me,” and hemmed in on every side; “refuge failed me.” Alone. Trapped. Helpless. Have you ever felt that way? Whether real or imagined, such a plight can be devastating: “My spirit was overwhelmed within me.”
In that pitch darkness, the ‘dark night of the soul,’ one glorious glimmer of light arrests him: “then Thou knewest my path.” If God is real, hope survives in the darkest night. Consider a few of the candles that God has given to illuminate the darkness. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry [Ps. 34:15].” “…All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do [Heb. 4:13].” And Job’s confidence in his overwhelming crisis, “He knoweth the way that I take… [Cf. Job 23:10]”
No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter how tangled the circumstances, nor how dark the night, God is vividly aware of your situation, and “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that [you] ask or think.”
“Men ought always to pray, and not to faint,” the Savior taught. And never does prayer prove more significant than when we are in the “caves” of life. Because of his assurance that God “knew,” the Psalmist “cried unto the Lord” aloud in the thick darkness (v.1). He “poured out [his] complaint before Him,” and showed Him his trouble,” spelling out his plight in detail (v. 2) and prayed very specifically, “bring my soul out of prison (v. 7).”
His cry brought relief. First, the relief of a revived confidence in God: “…for Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.” (v. 7)
When believing prayer does not immediately bring us out of the cave, it may revive our hope within it. But in due time more tangible relief came and God altered the circumstances so that David could record this event at a later time.
There is, of course, a loftier illustration of the same truth. It is not a cave, but a cross that contains the Son of God when, like His type before Him, “no man cared for His soul,” for even His disciples “all forsook Him and fled.” The only light in His darkness was the same as David’s here; ‘My Father knows My path.’ And as with His forbear, the Savior turned to prayer crying “with a loud voice,…Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared [Heb. 5:7].” He, of course, was not delivered from the cross, but through it, because it was essential to the Father’s plan. Certainly the Father was able to deliver Him from death,” but His plan, which included our deliverance from sin and death, did not allow it—just then.
Believing friend, if you are “overwhelmed” by some circumstance or combination of circumstances, be assured that God knows your path. Spell out your situation in detail before the Father’s throne of grace. Rejoice in the assurance that He will deal bountifully with you when His purpose has been fulfilled, and rest in His love.
Trapped in the cave, David did not cave in, but “cried unto the Lord with his voice.”
Go thou and do likewise!
For Light in life’s darkness,
"Pastor" Frasier
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