His Goodness

DEVOTION

PSALMS

HIS GOODNESS

Ps 142

142:1 A maskil  of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.

I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. 3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. 4 Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.

NIV

There is nothing wrong with audible prayer when we are all alone. There are occasions when in a group setting, someone is asked to pray and they do so with a loud voice so all in the group can hear. But David was all alone in some cave, hiding from those who are chasing him. Alone he cries out loudly to the Lord. We know God is not deaf, or even hard of hearing, so why such a loud cry? We think it might have to do with his level of frustration, or his need. He is in trouble and voices his concerns before the Lord. We can take a lesson here from David. Although we are not physically hiding in a cave from those who would do us harm, we might be in an emotional or mental cave or maybe even a spiritual cave. Nevertheless, we hardly pray loudly, but rather in the silence of our mind. If we were to pour out our complaint before him, if we were to tell of our troubles loudly before the Lord, it might do us good. Certainly when we are alone, we can pour it all out before him, for he knows our ways. Even when we are faint in our spirit, when we just feel a little overwhelmed with our situation, he knows our way. There is no question about snares and traps throughout life. The devil would desire to bring us down to his level and entice us to sin. He is not concerned for our welfare, in fact the world is not concerned for us. No matter we turn to the right or left the world only wants us to want what it promotes. But the Lord is our refuge, he only wants the very best for us. He is our portion in this land of the living, in this world. Sometimes the world is too strong for us, it pounds at us with its temptations. It tries it’s best to subdue us, entice us into its ways. In some sense we are trapped in this flesh. We are a spirit who lives in the flesh who has a soul. We cannot inherit the kingdom of God as long as we are trapped in this flesh, until it is resurrected and glorified as Jesus was. When that happens we will be gathered around with the righteous. They will gather around us because of your goodness. But still while we remain in this flesh we can have the righteous, other believers, gather around us because of your goodness. What does that look like in the here and now? If we are living because of the goodness of the Lord, should not all live like that? Then we gather together to worship him and that looks like each and every Sunday morning. We praise his name because of his goodness.