Psalm 142 continues the roller coaster from the biggest highs to the very lowest lows. In this chapter we are in the depths of frustration and being overwhelmed by the circumstances. David goes to God with a lot of things:
- “Cry out loudly
- Plead
- Spill out
- Spell out”
He is making sure God knows where he is. And he is “sinking in despair….my spirit ebbing away”. Things are tough for David. He is being pursued and feels trapped. He is in real danger and needs God’s touch on his life. He says “I’ve never been this low…..rescue me”. Have you been there? Most all of us have. And when we finally get to that point – when we know we cannot deal with the situation on our own – when we finally cry out to God and seek His face and turn it over to Him – that is when He acts. That is when He rescues us. He doesn’t need to as long as we are handling it on our own. We need to learn to turn it over to Him a whole lot sooner than we do. We need to let God have the controls well before we have exhausted every trick in the book that we know. He is there – waiting for us to finally get around to asking. What finally gets us there?
“Look right, look left – there’s not a soul who cares what happens”. It is in the depths of despair when we feel totally alone that we finally get around to running to God. Rather than being our first response – too often He is our last straw. Rather than just taking it all to Him, we tend to want to bring the big things. But to God they all matter, and He is there to help us well before we decide it is us and Him alone in this thing. Trusting other people to help us only leads to disappointment. After all, we are all human and will fail each other. That is the reality of who we are. God never fails. He never leaves nor forsakes us. He just waits patiently for us to figure out we need Him. When we finally get there God springs into action. He rescues us from the dungeon and gives us something to “thank You in public” about. We get a story, part of His Story, that we need to share with others in our patch. God often will use the very people that let us down when we were driving the bus as part of the solution to our issue. But on their own, they don’t move. “Your people will form a circle around me”. God uses people to get things done. Amazing how the same resource in His hands accomplishes great and mighty works, but when we are looking to them directly we get disappointed and left alone. God does work through people. Always has, always will. But the key is that He needs to be in control. Then we will receive “showers of blessing” and experience God’s goodness. Walk there!
