Sheltering Under Pressure | David Jeremiah | Psalm 142

in recent article in The Washington Post the  headline read the corona virus pandemic is pushing   America into a mental health crisis anxiety and  depression are rising and according to a Kaiser   Family Health Foundation poll nearly half of  Americans report the corona virus is harming   their mental health a federal emergency hotline  for people in emotional distress registered a   more than one thousand percent increase in April  compared to the same time last year last month   twenty thousand people texted that hotline the  fear of contacting the disease the loss of jobs   the isolation from our friends and for children  from their classmates the collapse of our economy   has many Americans afraid in despair and for many  depressed and then we turn on our televisions and   we watch one of the most heinous crimes in our  history as a white police officer puts his knee   into the neck of a black man and holds it there  until he has snuffed out his life I do not have   words in my vocabulary to express how angry  and upset I am over this that should never   happen anyplace on God's green earth let alone  on American soil that police officers assault   was not just an assault upon George Floyd it was  an assault on all of us and especially on other   good and-and-and proper police officers whom we  love and treasure and support I'm grieved and   I'm appalled that this could happen in our country  god help us and God forgive us and then activist   groups seized upon the moment and send in their  anarchists to burn down the city so is it any   wonder that we're depressed we're all under  pressure and it's palpable so once again we   turn to the Psalms and david was also a man who  understood pressure a different kind to be sure   but he was a man of vision a wise military and  governmental leader even a man gifted in music   and poetry and dancing but he dealt with pressure  both before and after he became Israel's second   king as a result like many people who love and  trust God David struggled with discouragement and   despair in depression he especially coped with  a weather turbulence during his fugitive years   David was fleeing for his life from the wrath  of King Saul and he had to bolster strength and   courage through devastating days of fear facing  many of these things alone he turned for solace   to music and worship as well as the comforts of  writing about his feelings in fact students of the   Psalms believed that David wrote at least eight  different Psalms during the years that he was   running away from Saul the superscription beneath  the heading of our Psalm Psalm 142 tells us we've   come to a contemplation of David a prayer when  he was in the cave David was running away from   the most powerful man in his world nearly always  outnumbered and without the support of anything   close to the armament of his enemy in fact on one  occasion saul had over thirty thousand men looking   for David as we examine this episode of David's  life here in Psalm 142 he has finally stumbled   across a refuge and he's found a sanctuary in the  midst of the wilderness he's come to a place where   he can lay low pour out his heart to God and sort  out the shattered fragments of his life he's found   a cave and he's entered the darkness of the cave  of despair it helps us to follow David's story if   nothing else we can discover that we aren't the  only ones who have experienced discouragement   and one of the reasons we wear out the pages of  the Psalms is that it helps simply to know that   somebody has gone this gone through this before  us even thousands of years before us we comfort   in recognizing the emotions we're feeling here and  now displayed in a man who lives so long ago what   a treasure we have in our hands David preserved  all these honest emotions and wise prescriptions   he maintained an invaluable journal that has  never lost its power or its richness and David   went beyond simple journaling he went beyond  simply recording for us the events of his life   he wrote out his prayers to God and he kept an  account of God's workings here in our Bibles we   can actually chart the course of David's life as  he moves through the series of crises and emerges   victorious on the other side as we find David he  is now seeking solace in the cave of a deulim it's   interesting to place the Psalms and the historical  books of Davis side-by-side and seek the full   context of what's going on in the psalm we can  discover for example how Psalm 142 seems to flow   from the life of David from the historical part in  first samuel here's what we read David therefore   departed from there and escaped to the cave of a  deulim so when his brothers and all his father's   house heard it they went down there to him and  everyone who was in distress everyone who was   in debt everyone who was discontented gathered to  him so he became captain over them and there were   about 400 men with him and what was happening  most scholars believe King Saul had levied a   tax on the people of Israel it would then be clear  that people were flocking to this cave of a deulim   to be with David in their anger and rebellion over  the unfair taxation they were poor people they had   very little and many of them were the very people  who had insisted before God that they needed a   king so be careful what you pray for Saul was that  King many of the 400 men no doubt were old friends   of David who gathered to lend their support  to him goliaths conqueror was still admired   by most citizens of the nation of Israel and his  word leaked out concerning their hero's flight   more and more of them decided to join David in his  hiding place in fact in the next chapter of first   Samuel we discovered that the number grew from 400  to 600 no needless to say this cave was no foxhole   on the side of the hill it was a huge cavern with  a 40-foot opening so we have David fleeing his   problems fleeing Saul fleeing life finally he's  come across a place of respite and suddenly there   are great crowds of people flowing toward him from  every direction what kind of people are these well   not exactly the best or the brightest these are  the debtors the troublemakers the discontented   who are flocking to the side of David how do you  think he feels about all this company now keep in   mind david is sick and he's discouraged I believe  he sought a cave not only for safety but also for   solitude the fact is that misery doesn't always  love company and the last people we want to be   with us in our despair are those with problems to  match our own that's why I can't imagine what this   massive social call must have been like for David  I mean he's struggling just to cope with his own   turbulent emotions and now all of the outcasts of  Israel are straggling to his side in the cave of a   deulim so David having entered a cave to be alone  finds himself surrounded by the most distressed   citizens of Israel I imagine he has taken a hard  look at his life and his place among the people of   Israel before coming to his journal to write this  Psalm David is introspective he's emotional and   very transparent with those emotions his feelings  flow out in the Psalms and music and praise and   tear we began the psalm with the discouragement of  David maybe you're among some that I've met over   the years who think Christian shouldn't show  emotions some believer seemed to have adopted   that very peculiar notion Christian deportment  according to the grim stereotype is a calm plain   vanila demeanor characterized by a pleasant smile  that never wavers even when the Lions are chasing   us around the Roman arena supposedly putting on  a happy face is the visual proof of godliness   but David a man after God's own heart vented his  emotions in violent colors and operatic crescendos   we winced when we read some of his work you need  only take a close look at the Samba for us the   journal entry never denies honest emotion there  can be little doubt that the author is a man whose   very soul is in distress so let's take a closer  look at the discouragement of David first of all   he feels disoriented Psalm 142 and verse 3 says my  spirit was overwhelmed within me David confesses   to us in Psalm 142 verse 3 that his spirit within  is overwhelmed the Hebrew words literally mean the   muffling of my spirit what vivid terminology have  you ever felt a muffled spirit David has come to   a place where he has begun to distrust the powers  of his own judgment he's no longer certain where   to turn or what course to take life has become a  great flood rushing in upon him and he struggles   to stand firm against the current David's muffled  spirit is a picture of disorientation he is   pursued by two armies one made up of soldiers and  the other of sufferers his life is entangled in a   knot of problems which thread should be loosened  first if you read his story you discovered that   he has recently made a serious mistake his  entanglement has distracted him from the will   of God for a period of time with tragic results as  punishment for harboring his prey Saul slaughtered   the village of knob which cared for David during  his prodigal journey from God's will and David   realizes that he is spiritually responsible for  the mass slaying of an entire village he's nearly   driven insane with guilt he's entered the darkened  depths of the cave to contemplate the darkened   depths of his soul but the crowd will prevent the  solitude his grief now craves I've often imagined   David slumped within the silence of the cave his  head in his hands reflecting on the place to which   his life has brought him shadows flicker at the  edge of his vision and he hears the approaching   echo of voices his gaze travels to the passage of  the cavern there a rough assortment of people is   beginning to swell the passageway they're shouting  about taxes and family problems when a thousand   other worries David closes his eyes with a sinking  heart he puts his head further down in his hands   and he whispers Oh Lord God what now what would  you have me to do he feels lost and disoriented   but that's not the only emotion he's feeling he  also feels deserted we come to the fourth verse   of our Psalm in my estimation it's one of the  saddest verses in the Bible here's what David   writes Psalm 142 verse 4 look on my right hand  and see for there's no one who acknowledges me   refuge has failed me no one cares for my soul can  you imagine any words more desolate or despairing   this is the same David who wrote in Psalm 16:8 I  have set the Lord always before me because he is   at my right hand I shall not be moved there had  been a time when he felt the Lord God always at   his right hand if God was for him who could be  against him life was rewarding in victorious   and no matter where he was or what he was doing  the Lord was always there but the pit into which   his soul has plunged as a dark one he sits in in  one most appropriate most symbolic place for his   mood a cold foreboding cave and even with a mob  of supporters closing in he is more convinced   than ever that nobody really cares about him  they care about what he does for them for the   defeating of Giants and the fighting of battles  but they don't care about him he's alone in terms   of people have you ever felt alone in a crowd of  400 may seem like a contradiction in terms but   anyone who has ever been lonely will confirm that  the greater the number of people present the more   intense can be the feeling of loneliness that is  why large thriving cities are pockets of despair   and alienation a cave filled with the echoes of  demanding voices can be lonely too and the psalm   suggests to us that david saw the friendly mob  and felt the fundamental difference between them   and himself suddenly his sense of isolation was  a knife in his heart no one knew the depth of his   emotions no one cared what he felt no one cared  how he suffered I don't know if you know it people   but problems tend to isolate us I'm the kind of  individual who is certain to turn inward when   the problems come like a turtle my head snaps  quietly back into the thick protective shell I   want to sort it all out for myself without outside  interference the tendency is to seek the nearest   cave that might offer protection from the world  and it's questions we believe no one else has   ever experienced such a problem as the one we're  facing or such as our feeling so we bury ourselves   in a cave scripture commentator Alexander McLaren  offers this description of the process he writes   the soul that has to wade through deep waters  as always to do it we have companions enjoy but   sorrow huh we have to face by ourselves unless we  have Jesus with us in the darkness we have no one   it matters not how many people are around you  how many people are crowding you you may be in   the center of a thousand people but you believe  you're hopelessly isolated Elijah suffered from   this misconception it was he against the world  he was firmly convinced that he was the only   prophet left who believed in God and it took the  Lord to remind him that he the creator was still   in control and that there were a few thousand  more soldiers in God's army than the Prophet had   calculated so David feels disoriented and he feels  deserted but he also feels depressed in verse six   David says I am brought very low come to a very  sensitive topic for contemporary Christianity I've   actually heard preachers claim that if you're in a  state of depression you can't be a Christian real   Christians they say don't experience depression so  my first question for these preachers is whether   they've read all the Bible or not I mean how are  we supposed to approach Elijah who was depressed   how are we supposed to understand Jonah who  was depressed and what about Moses he to face   depression then we come to the matter of King  David a man deeply loved by God a man a profound   spiritual experience and wisdom who also grappled  with depression throughout his life the word David   uses for depression interestingly enough is the  word for indentation he applies that condition to   his soul therefore David is saying I am suffering  from an indentation in my soul I am depressed as a   pastor I've occasionally counseled believers in  the midst of depression and I know what a heavy   burden it is for people to be brought very low  I've known people who have suffered such intense   depression that they eventually ended their  own lives they looked into the future and saw   nothing but emptiness and hopelessness and despair  heartfelt expressions of hope or encouragement   were no longer enough to reach them life simply  didn't seem worth living anymore and they chose to   forfeit the precious gift of life if you happen to  be in that place right now as you listen to this   message let me say to you don't do that God has a  plan for your life and what you're contemplating   is not a part of that plan there is help for  you even as there was for David David felt a   depression that may have approached such a zone of  desperation all of his hope and joy were gone his   thoughts turned inward at one time the problem had  been a simple one the king was hunting him down to   kill him but now David's plight was something more  abstract something considerably more complex David   had allowed his circumstances to drive him inward  instead of upward and he had come to fall back   on his own resources and those resources were now  spent the well had run dry there was nowhere else   for David to turn he no longer sense the presence  of God in his life but that this mean David was no   longer a child of God of course not believers do  indeed enter the dark cave of depression at times   and this is particularly true of godly leaders  these are men and women who dwell in the world   of momentous expectations and great ponderous  burdens of responsibility they wear the mantle   of greatness with unease and quite naturally great  expectations can lead to great depression so David   is in this cave and he feels disoriented he feels  deserted he feels depressed and he feels defeated   once again verse 6 of Psalm 142 deliver me from  my persecutors for they are stronger than I hey   with the better team today haha often have you  heard athletes expressed that sentiment after   losing a game or coming up short in a contest  lots of times I've often felt it somewhat cruel   to force professional athletes to endure press  conferences when they lose I mean these men and   women put forth incredible effort on the field  of play often sacrificing their own bodies in   their search for victory and when they do win of  course they enjoy talking about their experiences   to journalists and fans afterwards but who doesn't  like basking in the glow of victory it's really   hard to watch athletes try to grapple with the  reality of defeat with cameras and microphones   pressed to their faces I mean what can you say  when the final score already says it all what   excuses can you offer when no excuses are accepted  the reality is nobody likes grappling with their   own defeat including David and in the grip of his  low spirits David cries out to the Lord in verse   6 deliver me from my persecutors for they are  stronger than I he turns his focus to his enemies   like a football player on the losing end of the  Superbowl he can only say they were the better   team David is in a place where he can see nothing  but grim prospects he's wearing dark glasses that   tint the entire world in shades from gray to black  he does what most of us do when we're feeling low   he sits within his cave with a yellow legal pad  and proceeds to take inventory of his life placing   each element in one or two columns marked good  news and bad news and when he gets to the bottom   line he takes a look and concludes I've got some  bad news and some more bad news nothing good seems   to be visible through the dark glasses in a dim  cave the assets are zero and the liabilities are   endless one of those itemized listings would have  read my enemies are stronger than I am and you can   be sure that's a man's depression talking David  would like to be counting his blessings if only   he knew where they went depression is not the best  venue for formulating objective conclusions sober   reasoning is impossible David goes on to compare  himself to a man in prison in verse 7 and so he   is he's a prisoner of his own perspective he  has locked himself into the dungeon of despair   and thrown away the key we can only be thankful  to God that he made his escape we've been going   down down into the cave but now we're gonna take a  journey upward we're gonna see how David defeated   his discouragement there can be no doubt that  discouragement defeated David there had been a   time when he had sent a stone into a giant's head  now he had encountered a giant that could get into   his own head but for the people of God there is  never a pit too deep to escape there's never a   cave too dark for God's light to illuminate and  finally as the Scriptures attest David defeated   discouragement he travelled a path to liberation  from the imprisonment of his mind he left a map   for all of us who follow when we feel hopelessly  lost in our despair we simply need to listen to   the Word of God first of all David verbalized his  problems to God look back at the beginning of the   psalm I cry out to the Lord with my voice verse  one verse five I cried out to you O Lord verse   six attend to my cry perhaps David is a man after  God's own heart because he's willing to share his   own heart with God He pours it all out before  his father especially during times of despair   and discouragement prayer should be a time of  no-holds-barred straight-ahead communication with   God we cut to the root of the problem and were  not afraid to name names and when that happens we   feel a tremendous sense of unburdening ourselves  before the most intimate friend imaginable God is   listening he cares he responds and we can tell him  anything at all casts human logic and bureaucratic   conventions aside God has said we are to cast all  of our cares upon him period and if we hold back   any burden we short-circuit the healing process  that he is so eager to bring about within us I   found an enthusiastic endorsement of that truth  in an unlikely place an airline magazine during   a flight I was thumbing through the usual pages of  virtus meets when I came across a little article   on a topic that interested me called journaling I  went on to read the following here's what it said   battling illness and pain with pen and paper may  be unorthodox but it may also spell relief people   who write for 20 minutes a day about traumatic  events reduce their doctor visits improve their   immune system and among arthritis sufferers use  less medication have greater mobility says James   W Pennebaker a professor at the University of  Texas in Austin who has conducted studies on   the topic why the relief he writes suppressing  negative emotions can weaken the immune system   and arouse your fight or flight system churning  up blood pressure and heart rate writing about   conflict or trauma helps organize the experience  and the net effect is that people can move beyond   the stressful event the author quotes another PhD  marked lammle an associate professor of psychology   at Wayne State University in Detroit this scholar  theorized that the positive results of journaling   have something to do with the nature of pain  writing about stressful events relieves the   emotional part of pain that's when the patient  says I can still feel it but it doesn't bother   me as much it is interesting to me that as  science stumbles along in the modern world   it tends to come across truths that are in the  Word of God that have been there for thousands   of years this particular article concluded that  it's important for us to honestly express the   issues of our lives that's what the Lord has  been trying to tell us all along if a candid   journal can be a healthy thing how much more an  honest prayerful expression can be in fact when   I journal it's simply my prayers written out  in longhand written out in my computer I write   them out I tell God what's going on in my life  I started doing that during my bouts with cancer   and I discovered the power of expressing what's  going on in your life to God in terms that you   would you would never be embarrassed about to  show anyone bring your concerns before the Lord   insert almighty God into the equation of that mad  magazine article with all of its research experts   and the effectiveness of what they're prescribing  and you will see that God is much better than any   journal when you bring your problems to him in  prayer when you find yourself within the dark cold   walls of the cave feeling isolated and depressed  aren't you glad you have a God whose patience has   no limits whose love can never be exhausted and  whose tender mercies never come to an end aren't   you glad you can write down your thoughts lift  up your voice and say Lord here I've expressed   it this is exactly what I'm feeling and I know I  can offer it to you without fear or shame when you   do that when you when you follow that process God  begins the process of recovery so the first thing   David did was verbalize his problems to God then  he recognized his presence before God he says in   verse 3 when my spirit was overwhelmed within  me then you knew my path david has verbalized   his problems before God he has unrolled them as if  there were a great scroll holding all the secrets   of his mind and heart and suddenly he makes a  startling realization all this time he has been   pouring out his heart God was already at work with  David on his discouragement every moment David   felt overwhelmed by problems God was busy dealing  with them every second David despaired over the   lack of God's presence God was right there  as close as ever God knew about David and his   depression and every single problem he'd ever had  or would have in the future and God knows our term   for that is omniscient it means he knows every  detail of your life and your feelings so David   verbalized his problems to God then he recognized  that God was present with him and then he began to   realize his provision in God he says in verse  5 you are my refuge my portion in the land of   the living David has remembered he's praying to  the creator of heaven and earth now he begins   to rejoice in the provision that God has made for  him I remember an old preacher who once commented   unforgettably on this verse he said there's no  living in the land of the living like living   on the Living God and the land of the living is  not a reference to eternity or heaven it's just a   reference to living right now aren't you glad the  Bible has been written for people who are living   in the land of the living it's about so much more  than pie in the sky and the sweet by-and-by the   Bible is written for the rough fruit routines of  life the nitty gritty of the here and now it is   intended to help those of us who rise early every  morning and drive to work and punch the clock to   face genuine challenges its pages are filled with  real-life solutions for real-life problems so   David verbalized his problems to God he recognizes  presents before God and he realized his provision   in God and then he resumed his praise to God  verse 7 he said o God bring my soul out of   prison that I may praise your name the righteous  shall surround me for you shall deal bountifully   with me David has moved from the depths to the  heights in these few verses and he is ready to   praise God again prayer will do that for us we  can pray our way right through the pressure David   began the psalm with a sigh and he's going to end  it with a song we can pray our way right through   the sickness we can pray our way right through the  crisis and the losses and the fears and if we will   only come before him honestly he'll meet the need  in our lives every one of them David has traveled   from prison the praise he recorded the journey in  his masterpiece known as Psalm 142 and I like to   imagine that he wrote a sequel I enjoy picturing  him recording the final word of Psalm 142 then   turning the pages of his journal to begin Psalm  57 another Psalm written in that cave this piece   is a teaching some of David when he fled from  Saul into the cave most scholars believe that   Psalm 57 was written at the same time or in the  same setting as Psalm 142 but this one is much   more like a song it's closer to the hymns we sing  in joyful worship of God it's structured in two   verses in one chorus here's the chorus of Psalm 57  Psalm 57 5 be exalted O God above the heavens let   your glory be above all the earth we know those  those words we sing those words don't we and we   can just imagine David's beautiful singing voice  the first voice to sing so many of these immortal   psalms echoing through the cold stony walls of the  cave a beautiful melody dispersing the darkness in   an echo chamber it doesn't take a loud voice to  be heard for many miles be exalted O God above   the heavens David begins to sing imagine the  setting the voice is clear and beautiful and   soulful as it befits a singer who has known years  of deep turmoil nothing but the one voice can be   heard in those rocky corridors and then suddenly  another voice joins him in unlikely harmony and   the duet continues along and just like that one by  one a choir of 400 singers is lifting one mighty   choral voice together there has never been such a  concert in all of history and there may never be   another unless it will occur in a Roman Colosseum  or or a German prison camp in a place where music   and hope and laughter were thought to have been  cast forever it is the music of the miraculous   in a cave of Exile David and his choir pour out  a song of praise their concert hall is a natural   geological sound chamber one whose acoustics  were designed by God long ago for this very   earth shaking despair breaking moment the people  sing on praising God their voices penetrating the   massive stone of the natural ceiling to drift  to the very portals of heaven and perhaps even   the angels stop to listen be exalted O God above  the heavens I can almost see it in my mind I can   feel it in my heart in the midst of his despair  surrounded by the offscouring of the earth David   begins to realize his hope is in God and his one  singular voice begins to pour out his soul to God I'm so happy I'm so happy I am so before we say our final goodbyes to this week's  worship service let me remind you that in the   midst of all of the things we're experiencing  right now you really need God and if you don't   know God in a personal way if you've never  received his son Jesus Christ as your Savior   perhaps God has brought you to this place for  such a moment maybe the emotions you're feeling   in your heart and soul maybe maybe edging  into what might be depression maybe these   are the things that you're trying to deal  with in your own strength without any help   from outside I promise you what we're dealing  with right now is a god-sized problem and you   cannot do it in your own strength if you don't  know Jesus Christ will you receive him will you   pray this prayer in your heart dear God I need  Jesus Christ in my life I want to accept him as   my Savior in this service today I want to ask  Jesus Christ to forgive me of all of my sin and   give me the gift of eternal life which he has  promised in his word Lord Jesus I believe you   are the son of God I believe you are the risen  Christ I believe you are the savior of the world   I want to make a decision today to receive you  into my life Lord Jesus come into my life and   take up your residence in my heart and guide me  through life and especially through these days   and if you make a decision like that there's a  place on your screen where you can record that   you have prayed to receive Christ I hope you  will do it we have people ready to talk with   you and deal with you and help you most of all  we want to pray with you so what I'm going to do   is pray and then Michael is going to sing us out  and we'll be on our way once again thank you for   joining us Shadow Mountain online now father  take the Word of God and use it to change our   lives bless those who are praying right now and  have prayed to receive you as Savior may this   be the beginning of new days for so many people  who are listening to this service and Lord Jesus   Christ get glory to your name and all of this  may your name be praised as our prayer and we   thank you for another good day in church here at  shadow Mountain in Jesus name Amen zyne graves save Rammstein I was long but now I see sprays and then talk then talk bye Prince Mario fears really then Oh injured so ow right you

Channel: David Jeremiah

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Keywords: david jeremiah, turning point ministries dr. david jeremiah, dr. david jeremiah, david jeremiah sermons 2020, Easter, resurrection, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, faith, tomb, turning point david jeremiah, turning point ministries, turning point ministries tv broadcast, turning point ministries sermons, turning point ministries david jeremiah

Id: J20NRyR_Wgg

Length: 42min 33sec (2553 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 01 2020