Psalms 142 - Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psalms 142:1. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.

Silent prayers are often true prayers, but there are times when, in extremity of suffering, it is very helpful to give expression to the soul's agony. I know some friends who can never pray to their own comfort except they can hear their own voices, and I believe that it is a good thing for the most of us to retire to some private place where we cannot be heard by men and where we can therefore freely use our voices in prayer. Very often the use of the voice helps to keep the thoughts from wandering, and also gives intensity to the desires. You notice that David particularly mentions here that he cried unto the Lord with his voice. No doubt many of his prayers ascended to God from his heart without the medium of his voice; but here, the cry with his voice went with the desires of his heart.

Psalms 142:2. I poured out my complaint before him;

That is a beautiful expression, «I poured out my complaint,» just as you turn a pitcher upside down, and let all the contents run out: «I poured out my complaint.» We are generally ready enough to do that, only that, usually, we go to some friend, or to some enemy, and pour out our complaint into his ear. But what is the good of doing that? David took a far wiser course: «I poured out my complaint before him.»

Psalms 142:2. I shewed before him my trouble.

Uncovered it, and set it all out in order before him. God could see it, yet David knew that it was his place and his privilege to spread it all out before him.

Psalms 142:3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.

Many of the Lord's saints know the meaning of that sentence: «My spirit was overwhelmed within me.» They are like a vessel that has sunk in the sea, and is completely covered by the waves. David was in such a plight as that, he did not know his own whereabouts, but here was the mercy, «Then thou knewest my path.» It is much better that God should know our path than that we should know it ourselves, for we may know it, and be driven to despair by our knowledge; but God's knowledge of it moves him to uphold us in it, or to deliver us out of it.

Psalms 142:3-19. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me:

«They were afraid to link themselves with me, lest, when I went down like a drowning man, they should be dragged down with me.»

Psalms 142:4. Refuge failed me;

«I could not run away; there was no place where I could find shelter.»

Psalms 142:4. No man cared for my soul.

«They were all hard, cold, ungrateful, treacherous.»

Psalms 142:5. I cried unto thee, O LORD:

What a mercy that David was driven to do that! If there had been any earthly refuge, he would have fled to it. If there had been some human being at his right hand to help him, probably he would have trusted to him. If any man had cared for his soul, peradventure he would have trusted in that person, but now that every earthly door was shut, he was obliged to turn to his God.

Psalms 142:5. I said, Thou art my refuge

«I can flee to thee.»

Psalms 142:5. And my portion in the land of the living.

With both hands he lays hold of God, and cries, «Thou art my refuge and my portion,» two glorious «mys.» Well did Luther say that the very pith of the gospel lies in the little words, and it is the same with the Psalms.

Psalms 142:6-19. Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,

This is a suitable prayer for those who have troubled consciences, for those who are shut up in Doubting Castle, and cannot get out without divine assistance. «Bring my soul out of prison,»

Psalms 142:7. That I may praise thy name:

As soon as you are set at liberty, you ought at once to let your glad heart magnify the God who has broken your bonds, and brought you out of prison.

Psalms 142:7. The righteous shall compass me about;

This is a beautiful idea, it seems to imply that they would be so astonished to find him at liberty that they would all come round him to hear his story, they would be so glad to see the mourner rejoicing that they would all begin to inquire what God had done for his soul.

Psalms 142:7. For thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

In the 13 th Psalm, David said, «I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me;» but here he looks into the future, and sings, «Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.»

An instructive psalm of David, for we speak to one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, and they are a means of instruction, as well as a means of utterance of praise. «A prayer when he was in the cave»; and, therefore, likely to suit any of you who are in trouble a prayer when he hid away from Saul, and was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains «A prayer when he was in the cave.»

Psalms 142:1. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.

Of course, the essence of his prayer was in his heart, but it often helps the heart to use the voice. It is much better to pray in silence if you will be heard by others, for we are not to pray to be heard of men, but if you have opportunity to pray aloud, I am sure you will feel it very helpful to devotion to do so. «I cried unto the Lord with my voice: with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.»

Psalms 142:2. I poured out my complaint before him:

As if it were in a vessel, and I turned the vessel upside down, and poured it all out. That is true prayer. It is the pouring out of what is really in; not an utterance of words which may, perhaps, go no farther than the mere lips, but the pouring out of whatever is within, whether it is praise or complaint. «I poured out my complaint before him» realized his presence, and then told him my complaint.

Psalms 142:2. I shewed before him my trouble.

We must believe that God is, and that he is the hearer of prayer. We must be conscious that we are not only using proper words, and feeling proper thoughts, but that we are doing it before him. «I showed before him my trouble.»

Psalms 142:3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.

I did not know it. I was so puzzled so in a maze, like a man at his wits' end. My spirit seemed turned bottom upward, like a thing that is overwhelmed.

Psalms 142:3 In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.

I could not find out where the snare was, but «thou knewest my path.» I knew the trap was cunningly laid, but I could not see it. «Thou knewest my path.» We are not ignorant of Satan's devices, but sometimes we are completely ignorant as to what devices he is using just now, but «then thou knewest my path.»

Psalms 142:4. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

It is a bad time always when friendship seems to have died out, when those that we rely upon turn their backs upon us and refuse to sympathize with us in any degree. It is a sad case to be in. «No man cared for my soul.»

Psalms 142:5. I cried unto thee, O LORD:

Ah! that is the thing to do. When no man will know you, God will know you. When no man cares for you, God will care for you. Prayer is an unfailing resort. «I cried unto thee, O Lord.»

Psalms 142:5. I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.

See how he clings to his God now. We never do cling to God so well as when everything else fails us. To a greater or less extent, all those who yield us comfort do, in some little measure, take our heart off our God; but when it comes to be lonely, friendless, helpless, forgotten, despised, rejected, and outcast, oh! then it is a blessed thing, with a two-handed faith, to lay hold on God and say, «Thou art my refuge, and my portion in the land of the living.»

Psalms 142:6. Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low:

What a blessed argument! Nothing can move God's pity like it. «I am brought very low.» It is not your height that God will respect: it is your lowliness. O soul, it is not thy excellence that God regards: it is thy need not thy goodness, but thy want of his goodness that he looks at; not thy fullness, but thy emptiness; not thy strength, but thy weakness. Nothing that thou hast. It is thy lack of everything that moves his heart. «Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low.»

Psalms 142:6-19. Deliver me from my persecutors: for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name:

He asks for deliverance, and it is that he may praise God in it. So ought we always to desire mercies with this in view that we may praise God the better for them.

Psalms 142:7. The righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

Lord, if thou art kind to me, all thy people will hear of it. When I get out of prison, they will say one to another, «Such-and-such a brother has got cheered and comforted. His face has changed. He is no more sad»; and they will come round me. They will begin to ask me how it came about. Thus I shall tell out thy praises encourage others and get to thee a great and glorious name, if thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Now, the next psalm, much after the same fashion.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 142:1. and 143.

Maschil of David. A prayer when he was in the cave. This «Maschil of David» is instructive to us, for the experience of one believer is very edifying to another. We are so much alike that, as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of men answereth to man, and what one believer has felt awakens sympathy in the rest of God's people.

Psalms 142:1-19. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.

David mentions that he prayed with his voice. This is an unimportant matter compared with praying with the heart; but when the heart is full of prayer, it is often very helpful to be able to use the voice to give expression to the emotions of the soul. To have a room in which, without disturbing others, and without ostentatiously revealing your private experiences to others, you can speak aloud unto the Lord, will be found to be a great advantage in prayer. Some men's thoughts become more concentrated, and how more freely, and their hearts are better able to pour out their deepest and fullest expressions, when they can pray aloud. So David says that, in the cave, where he would not be likely to disturb anybody, he cried with his voice unto the Lord: «With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.» You can see from verse 2 what was the style of his prayer. «I poured out my complaint.» The figure is a very simple one. Just as you pour out water from a bottle, so David let his heart's complaint flow out before the Lord. In pouring out water, it sometimes comes slowly gurgling, and sometimes fast; at times with a rush, followed by a pause. There is no prayer better than that which naturally flows from the renewed heart, without any strain or effort, it was so with David: «I poured out my complaint before him, I shewed before him my trouble.» Just as a patient shows his wounds to the surgeon, so take away the covering from your broken heart and wounded spirit, and set your trouble before the Lord, who already sees it. It will be no novelty or cause of surprise to him, but he desires you to manifest such trustfulness in him as will lead you to lay before him your complaint and your trouble.

Psalms 142:3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.

«My spirit was so overwhelmed within me, that I did not know where I was, or what I was. I could not make head or tail of myself. I seemed to be like a skein of silk or wool in a tangle. My thoughts, as George Herbert would have said, were all a case of knives, sharp to cut and wound. I could not make myself out; I was a puzzle even to myself, but thou knewest my path even then.»

Psalms 142:3-19. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

This is a terrible condition for anyone to be in, to have every friend forsake you, to find that those who used to know you best, do not want to know you any longer, but turn their heads away as if it would be a disgrace to them to be known to have been your friends. This is a grand opportunity for testing the reality of your faith. Can you believe God now? Can you take him to be your Friend now that you have not another friend in the world? Fine weather faith is very cheap, and easily to be obtained; but the faith that can stand fast in the time of the storm and tempest, that hardy mountaineering faith which hides in God in the coldest winter, and finds its summertime in him alone, that is the faith that is worth having and worth keeping.

Psalms 142:5. I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.

«I left the broken reeds alone, and leaned upon my God. I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.»

Psalms 142:6-19. Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

This is a beautiful metaphor, suggesting that, when the saints heard that God brought him out of prison, they would round about him, gaze upon him as a miracle of mercy, and ask him to tell them his wonderful tale. He would be the center of their delighted observation, and their own faith and hope in the Lord would be greatly increased. As a little imprisoned bird might long for emancipation, David says, «O Lord, open my cage-door, and let me fly; and I will sing, as I mount, to the praise of him who gave me my liberty. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.'»

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 51:1. and 142.