- Read Psalm 142 from the ESV.
- Read my Psalm 142 poem from A New Song.
I don’t know the cave David was in when he wrote this psalm, nor the circumstances which drove him there — though many suggest Psalm 142 was written when David hid from Saul (I Samuel 24) — I think I know how he felt while hiding in the cave. I also think each of us understands what it is to feel as though we are under attack, isolated, and left for dead.
If this was written when David was hiding from Saul, then we know, from scripture, that David had done nothing wrong to precipitate Saul’s pursuit. David was hiding solely due to Saul’s sin and Saul’s pride. Saul was unwilling to follow God’s commands (I Samuel 15) and so God took the mantle of Israel’s leadership from him and passed it on to an unlikely recipient: a shepherd by the name of David. Over time, Saul’s pride led him to the point where he longed for and plotted David’s death. With this in mind, it is easy to see why David while hiding in a cave from Saul, would cry out to God as he does in this psalm.
But this is not the only manner in which Psalm 142 can be read. Christopher Ash, a writer for Tyndale publishing, has written a number of books on the Psalms and states that the Psalms can only be read and prayed when we first see Jesus in them. Ash believes that only Jesus Christ, the son of God, is capable of perfectly praying and singing the psalms. Thus, when we read Psalm 142, we hear Jesus crying out to God (v. 1-2), pursued by his enemies (v. 3), with his spirit faint within him (v. 4), and knowing that God was only his refuge (v. 5-12). He trusted his Father to be greater than his persecutors even though while in the garden he asked for the immanent trial to pass from him.
These are both good ways to read Psalm 142, but I think we can also read this psalm as coming from our own heart. To one degree or another, we all know what it is to be pursued by wicked people. We all know isolation. And we all know what it is to be forgotten and left behind, perchance even to be left for dead — physically, socially, or spiritually. At some point in time or the other, I would guess we have all wanted to crawl into a cave and disappear. Maybe it was because of an unjust attack, or maybe we deserved the persecution, regardless it’s at those times when I envy the turtle.
Yes, that’s what I said, I envy the turtle. He carries his own cave with him. Anytime he feels as though the world is out to get him, anytime he feels under attack, anytime he wishes to hide, he can. He doesn’t have to look for a cave, he is a cave. He can pull his every appendage inside his cave and hide from the world. Sounds enviable, does it not?
Sure does. But I think there’s a good reason we aren’t like the turtle. We are created to be with others because being with others is one of the main ways in which God offers us comfort. In those times when we find ourselves hiding from the world or feeling as though the world has pushed us aside and forgotten us, we find that God is the only one who can protect us. He is our “turtle shell” so to speak. It is in his arms, and only in his arms, that we will find comfort and protection. But we also find something else in his arms: a group of other people like us who have gone to God for his protection and comfort. It is in his arms that we find that we are not alone in being cast away, forgotten, or oppressed.
Chief among those outcasts in God’s arms is Christ. Hebrews 4:15 says, Christ “is (not) unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin.” Christ experienced isolation and was pursued unto death so that when we are also isolated we can turn to a God who understands our situation.
In addition to Christ, we will also find other people. Hebrews 5:2 describes human high priests as being those “able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.” Each of us are “priests,” as Peter describes in his letter, and are fallen, broken, rejected, and isolated people. But we are also called by God to minister to others who are fallen, broken, rejected, and isolated just like us. We are called, like Christ, to forgive, embrace, and walk with each other because we know that others have been where we have been. In empathy and love, we become God’s hands to give love to the fallen and broken.
Sadly, however, we are often surrounded by the Sauls and Pharisees in life who think they are called by God because they are not fallen and broken, or at least not as broken as we are. They choose to forget us, they choose to not forgive us, and they choose to leave us in the cave. And because they are in public positions or haven’t made the same huge mistakes we have, we think they actually speak for God. We think they love only those whom God would love, and no others. But we would be wrong if we thought that. We — the followers of Christ — are the castaways, and God’s love is only found in the community of other castaways, not with the Sauls and Pharisees of this world. And in God’s arms with Jesus and the castaways of this world we find our portion in the land of the living (Psalm 142:5). We may find that land difficult, but in the community of other castaways who love as God loves, we will find that it is the only true land, and it is worth living in.
