GROANING BEFORE GOD
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Opening Prayer
Speak to me through your Word today, Father, enabling me to sense your presence, hear your voice, and apply what you teach me.
Read PSALM 142
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
A maskil[b] of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.
1 I cry aloud to the Lord;
I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out before him my complaint;
before him I tell my trouble.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
people have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.
5 I cry to you, 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.
Footnotes
- Psalm 142:1 In Hebrew texts 142:1-7 is numbered 142:2-8.
- Psalm 142:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘God’s Spirit … does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.’1
Today’s psalm was a prayer of David ‘When he was in the cave.’ During his difficult years as a fugitive, David often sought refuge in caves. Perhaps this psalm was composed when David fled from Gath to the cave of Adullam.2
The man at Bethesda had ‘no one to help me into the pool’;3 thrice in this psalm David laments that there is ‘no one’ to help or care about him (v. 4). David’s ‘complaint’ (v. 2), however, is not in the same category as the grumbling of the man at the pool! David does not grumble so much as groan before God. In this outpouring of feelings, as to a trusted confidant, nothing is bottled up or buried; everything is brought boldly— and loudly!—before God (vv. 1–4). When hemmed in by troubles, we naturally yearn for the comforting warmth of a friendly presence. Even Jesus experienced this longing in the hours before his crucifixion: ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’4 David was keenly aware of his own frailty—‘my spirit grows faint within me’ (v. 3). Kidner comments, ‘the strain of being hated and hunted is almost too much, and faith is at full stretch.’5 That safe space in which he felt free to break down before God was probably what saved David from a nervous breakdown!
Groaning before God also readied David for higher ground. From feeling that he had ‘no refuge’ (v. 4), David progresses to affirming facts and faith—God is not merely a refuge but ‘my refuge’ (v 5, emphasis added). Although the ‘desperate need’ (v. 6) remains, David himself is no longer desperate. The prayer that began on a note of panic ends on a high note of hopeful praise and trust (v. 7).
Apply
Your feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, presented to God and processed in God’s presence, can be transformed by his grace.
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, shape my prayers today. Help me communicate heartfelt praise and thanksgiving that is filled with confidence and anticipation for what you can do in and through me.
1 Rom 8:26, The Message 2 1 Sam 22:1 3 John 5:7 4 Matt 26:38 5 Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150 (IVP, 1975 (reprinted 2007)), 473
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