Psalm 142

Psalm 142, My Only Refuge

Scripture Text

Psalm 142:1, “I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.”

Psalm 142:2, “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.”

Psalm 142:3, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.”

Psalm 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.”

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

Psalm 142:6, “Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.”

Psalm 142:7, “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.”

Introduction

Psalm 142 is titled Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. The word Maschil carries the idea of instruction. This psalm is not only the record of David’s distress, it is a lesson learned in distress. David learned in the cave what could not easily be learned in comfort. He learned that when human refuge fails, the LORD remains. He learned that when no man cares for his soul, God hears his cry. He learned that when persecutors are stronger than he is, God is still able to deliver.

The cave was most likely the cave of Adullam, though the caves of En Gedi are also possible. The cave of Adullam fits well because David had fled from Saul, had been dismissed from Gath, and had come to a place of extreme weakness and isolation.

1 Samuel 22:1, “David therefore departed thence, and escaped to cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.”

1 Samuel 22:2, “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”

At first, David seemed alone, hunted, rejected, and without refuge. Yet God used that cave as a turning point. The man who felt abandoned would soon be surrounded by men who became the beginning of his kingdom. The cave became a place of prayer, instruction, dependence, and future hope.

Psalm 142 has two great notes running through it. First, David feels helpless as far as man is concerned. No one acknowledges him. Refuge has failed. No one cares for his soul. His persecutors are stronger than he is. Second, David deliberately turns his helpless soul to the LORD. He cries to the LORD, pours out his complaint before Him, declares his trouble, confesses God as his refuge and portion, and ends with confidence that God will deal bountifully with him.

This psalm is a powerful lesson for every believer who feels alone, overwhelmed, trapped, slandered, hunted, forgotten, or brought very low. David teaches us that the cave is not the end if God is our refuge.

A. The Preface to David’s Prayer

1. Psalm 142:1, David’s Cry to the LORD

Psalm 142:1, “I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.”

David begins with prayer. He does not begin by analyzing Saul, blaming circumstances, or rehearsing every human failure. He begins by crying to the LORD. This is the right beginning for a soul in distress.

The phrase “I cried unto the LORD” is also a declaration of allegiance. David knew of the false gods worshiped by surrounding nations, but he would not cry to them. He would not seek refuge in idols, occult counsel, pagan superstition, or worldly schemes. He cried to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel.

This matters because trouble reveals where a man’s trust really is. Some men cry to money. Some cry to power. Some cry to manipulation. Some cry to revenge. Some cry to distraction. David cries to the LORD.

Psalm 34:4, “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

Psalm 34:6, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”

Psalm 34 is also associated with this general season of David’s life. David knew what it meant to be poor, endangered, humiliated, and afraid. Yet he also knew that the LORD hears the cry of the distressed.

David repeats the phrase “with my voice.” He says, “with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.” David was not merely thinking silent thoughts. He prayed aloud. There are times when silent prayer is fitting, but there are also times when the distress of the soul must be poured out with the voice.

The repetition shows urgency and intensity. David’s prayer was not cold or formal. He cried with his voice. His need was pressing. His danger was real. His loneliness was heavy. His heart needed to speak before God.

This is not unbelief. It is faith under pressure. Faith does not always sound calm. Sometimes faith cries.

Jonah 2:2, “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.”

Jonah cried from the deep. David cried from the cave. Both cried to the LORD, and the LORD heard.

The believer should learn from David that there is no shame in crying out to God. Prayer is not weakened by honest distress. It is strengthened when distress drives the soul to the only true refuge.

2. Psalm 142:2, David’s Complaint to the LORD

Psalm 142:2, “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.”

David says, “I poured out my complaint before him.” The word complaint does not mean sinful murmuring in this context. It means his troubled thoughts, his burden, his grief, his distress, and his case. David did not bottle it up. He poured it out before the LORD.

This is important. David’s complaint was not poured out before men in bitterness, gossip, and self pity. It was poured out before God. There is a righteous way to bring complaint, grief, and distress to the LORD. The Psalms teach us that God’s people do not need to pretend that pain is not real. They must bring it honestly to God.

Psalm 62:8, “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is refuge for us. Selah.”

David lived this truth. He poured out his heart before God because God was his refuge.

The phrase “before him” matters. David’s complaint was placed in the presence of God. This means he submitted his distress to God’s wisdom, justice, mercy, and timing. He was not merely venting into the air. He was laying his trouble before the Judge, Shepherd, and covenant LORD.

David continues, “I shewed before him my trouble.” God already knew David’s trouble, but David still declared it before Him. Prayer is not for God’s information. It is for the believer’s communion, relief, dependence, and faith. God knows, but He invites His people to speak.

Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Philippians 4:7, “And peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Paul teaches the same principle. The anxious soul is to bring everything to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. David does this in the cave.

There is also a fatherly tenderness in this. A child may tell a loving father what the father already knows, but the telling itself is part of relationship. David brings his trouble to the LORD because he knows the LORD cares.

1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

David felt that no man cared for his soul, but he knew where to cast his care. He cast it upon the LORD.

B. David’s Prayer

1. Psalm 142:3 and Psalm 142:4, God’s Care for the Lonely Saint

Psalm 142:3, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.”

David now describes the inward condition of his soul. “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me.” David was a brave man. He had killed Goliath, fought battles, escaped danger, and endured hardship. Yet here he admits that his spirit was overwhelmed.

This is an honest and important statement. Strong men can be overwhelmed. Faithful men can feel crushed. Courageous men can reach the end of their strength. David’s courage did not mean he was emotionally untouched by suffering. His faith did not mean he never felt pressed beyond himself.

2 Corinthians 1:8, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:”

2 Corinthians 1:9, “But we had sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth dead:”

Paul was pressed above strength so that he would not trust in himself, but in God who raises the dead. David’s cave served a similar purpose. His spirit was overwhelmed, but he learned to lean on the LORD.

David says, “then thou knewest my path.” When David did not know what to do, God knew his path. When David could not see beyond the cave, God saw the whole road. When David was overwhelmed within himself, God knew the way before him.

This is one of the great comforts of the psalm. God does not lose track of His servant in the cave. The path may be hidden from David, but it is not hidden from God.

Psalm 139:3, “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.”

Psalm 139:5, “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.”

The God of Psalm 139, who knows all David’s ways, is also the refuge of Psalm 142. God knew David’s path in the palace, the battlefield, the wilderness, and the cave.

David then says, “In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.” The danger was hidden. His enemies were secretive. They laid snares where he walked. The path of obedience itself was filled with traps.

This often happens to the righteous. The enemy does not always attack openly. He sets hidden snares, secret accusations, subtle temptations, and unseen traps. David did not know where every snare was, but God did.

Psalm 140:5, “The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.”

David had prayed about hidden snares before. Psalm 142 repeats the same need. The believer must ask God to preserve him from dangers he cannot see.

Psalm 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.”

David now describes the loneliness of the cave. “I looked on my right hand.” The right hand was the place where a helper, defender, advocate, or champion might stand. David looked there and found no man.

He says, “there was no man that would know me.” This means no one recognized him in the sense of standing with him, defending him, or identifying with his cause. He felt abandoned.

David continues, “refuge failed me.” Every human refuge had collapsed. Saul’s court was no refuge. Gath had been no refuge. Public reputation was no refuge. Family had not yet gathered to him. Political support was gone. He was in a cave.

Then comes one of the loneliest statements in Scripture, “no man cared for my soul.” David felt that no one was watching over his life, defending him, considering his grief, or caring whether he lived or died.

This is not necessarily a statement that no one on earth loved David in any sense. It is the honest cry of a man who, in that moment, had no visible human helper. He felt utterly alone.

Yet the very fact that he says this to God shows that he knows God cares. If no man cared for his soul, the LORD still did. David’s human refuge failed so that he would discover God as his true refuge.

The Lord Jesus entered even deeper loneliness. In Gethsemane, His disciples slept. At His arrest, they fled. At the cross, He bore sin in a way David never could.

Matthew 26:40, “And he cometh unto disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”

Matthew 26:56, “But all this was done, that scriptures of prophets might fulfilled. Then all disciples forsook him, and fled.”

David’s loneliness points forward in a lesser way to the greater suffering of Christ, who was forsaken by men and bore the judgment of sinners.

For the believer, this means that even when no man cares for the soul, Christ does. He is the faithful High Priest who knows suffering, loneliness, betrayal, and distress.

Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not high priest which cannot touched with feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

David came to the LORD in the cave. The believer comes to the throne of grace through Christ.

2. Psalm 142:5, David’s Trust in God Alone

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

David repeats, “I cried unto thee, O LORD.” This is the central action of the psalm. Human refuge failed, but David cried to the LORD. His loneliness did not silence prayer. His abandonment drove him to God.

Then David makes a great confession, “Thou art my refuge.” Earlier he said, “refuge failed me.” Now he says, “Thou art my refuge.” The contrast is deliberate. Every earthly refuge failed, but God did not fail.

In the Old Testament, cities of refuge provided protection for those in special danger.

Numbers 35:11, “Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares.”

David did not have a city of refuge in this moment. He had something greater. The LORD Himself was his refuge. God was not merely the giver of shelter. He was the shelter.

Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

The cave was not David’s true refuge. God was. The cave could hide his body for a time, but only God could preserve his soul.

David also says, “and my portion in the land of the living.” This is even deeper. A refuge is where a man runs for safety. A portion is what a man possesses as his inheritance and satisfaction. David is saying that God is not only his protection, but also his treasure.

When David had lost visible security, God was his portion. When earthly inheritance seemed uncertain, God was his inheritance. When his future looked bleak, God was his living hope.

Psalm 16:5, “The LORD is portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.”

Lamentations 3:24, “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”

This is one of the greatest lessons of the cave. When everything else is stripped away, the soul must learn whether God Himself is enough. David says, “Thou art my refuge and my portion.”

The phrase “in the land of the living” shows that David expected God’s goodness not only after death, but also in his present life. He believed God would sustain him, preserve him, and deal bountifully with him before his earthly course was finished.

Psalm 27:13, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see goodness of LORD in land of living.”

David believed he would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 142 has the same confidence.

3. Psalm 142:6 and Psalm 142:7, David’s Prayer for Deliverance

Psalm 142:6, “Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.”

David asks, “Attend unto my cry.” He wants God’s focused attention, not because God is distracted, but because David is desperate. He is not ashamed to confess his condition, “for I am brought very low.”

David does not pretend strength he does not have. He does not try to sound heroic. He is honest before God. He is low, weak, pressured, and endangered.

This is a healthy confession. God does not require His servants to pretend they are strong when they are weak. In fact, acknowledging weakness often becomes the doorway to receiving divine strength.

2 Corinthians 12:9, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in infirmities, that power of Christ may rest upon me.”

2 Corinthians 12:10, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I weak, then am strong.”

David was brought very low, but that low place positioned him to trust God more fully.

He prays, “deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.” David admits that his enemies are stronger than he is. This is not cowardice. It is realism. Saul had the throne, soldiers, resources, and political power. David had a cave.

Yet David’s weakness did not mean defeat because the LORD was his refuge. The enemies may have been stronger than David, but they were not stronger than God.

Psalm 18:17, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.”

Psalm 18:18, “They prevented me in day of my calamity: but LORD was my stay.”

David had learned that enemies too strong for him were not too strong for the LORD.

Psalm 142:7, “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.”

David says, “Bring my soul out of prison.” He may not have been in a literal prison, but his soul felt confined, trapped, restricted, and bound. The cave itself may have felt like a prison. His circumstances hemmed him in. His enemies limited his movement. His grief pressed on his spirit.

He asks God to bring his soul out. This is a prayer for deliverance, enlargement, and restored freedom.

Psalm 25:17, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.”

David desires deliverance for a specific purpose, “that I may praise thy name.” He does not merely want comfort. He wants to praise. He wants his deliverance to become worship. His freedom will not be used for self exaltation, but for the glory of God.

This is the proper motive in prayers for deliverance. The believer should desire rescue so that God’s name may be praised.

David then moves from isolation to expected fellowship, “the righteous shall compass me about.” Earlier he said no man cared for his soul. Now he believes the righteous will surround him. This is faith looking beyond the cave.

God answered this. David’s family came to him. The distressed, indebted, and discontented gathered to him. Over time, these men became the nucleus of his kingdom and some became mighty men.

1 Samuel 22:1, “David therefore departed thence, and escaped to cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.”

1 Samuel 22:2, “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”

The man who felt alone would soon be surrounded. The cave became the gathering place of a future kingdom.

David ends with confidence, “for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.” This is a remarkable ending for a cave prayer. David is not yet delivered, but he believes God will deal bountifully with him. He does not say perhaps. He says “thou shalt.”

This confidence rests in God’s character and promise. David may be low, but God is faithful. David may be hunted, but God is sovereign. David may be alone, but God will provide. David may be in a cave, but God has not forgotten the throne.

1 Samuel 16:12, “And he sent, and brought him in. Now he ruddy, and withal of beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.”

God had anointed David. The cave could not cancel that calling. Saul could not cancel it. Enemies could not cancel it. God would deal bountifully with him.

For the believer, the same principle holds in Christ. The cave is not the end. God will complete what He has begun.

Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun good work in you will perform until day of Jesus Christ:”

The LORD who was David’s refuge and portion remains the refuge and portion of His people.

Doctrinal and Practical Summary

Psalm 142 teaches that God’s servants may experience deep loneliness, distress, and helplessness. David was in a cave, overwhelmed in spirit, hunted by persecutors, and without visible human refuge.

The psalm teaches that distress should drive the believer to prayer. David cried to the LORD with his voice, poured out his complaint before Him, and declared his trouble. He brought his burden to God instead of letting it poison his soul.

Psalm 142 teaches that God knows the path of His overwhelmed servants. David did not know how everything would unfold, but God knew his path. Hidden snares were not hidden from the LORD.

The psalm teaches that human refuge can fail. David looked to his right hand and found no helper. No man acknowledged him. No man cared for his soul. Yet this failure of human refuge revealed God as his true refuge.

Psalm 142 teaches that the LORD is not only a refuge, but also a portion. David did not merely seek safety from God. He found his inheritance, satisfaction, and living hope in God Himself.

The psalm teaches honest weakness. David confessed that he was brought very low and that his persecutors were stronger than he was. Faith does not require pretending strength. Faith brings weakness to God.

Finally, Psalm 142 teaches confidence in God’s future bounty. David began with complaint and loneliness, but ended expecting praise, fellowship with the righteous, and God’s bountiful dealing. The cave was not the end of David’s story.