David Unfiltered

 

Psalm 142 – A Psalm of David

I cry aloud to the Lord;

    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.

I pour out before him my complaint;

    before him I tell my trouble.

When my spirit grows faint within me,

    it is you who watch over my way.

In the path where I walk

    people have hidden a snare for me.

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;

    no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;

    no one cares for my life.

I cry to you, Lord;

    I say, “You are my refuge,

    my portion in the land of the living.”

Listen to my cry,

    for I am in desperate need;

rescue me from those who pursue me,

    for they are too strong for me.

Set me free from my prison,

    that I may praise your name.

Then the righteous will gather about me

    because of your goodness to me.

 

We couldn’t leave David without at least talking about one of his Psalms.  David was a prolific writer of these songs of comfort, lament, joy, and wisdom.  No one knows for sure how many he wrote, but most scholars are pretty sure he wrote Psalm 142 above when he was in a cave hiding from Saul, who was trying to kill him.

I find it compelling that David thought to write down his thoughts to God all the while knowing Saul could show up with soldiers to kill him at any moment.  For me, that’s one of the powers of the Psalms; they capture raw emotion and stream of consciousness in the heat of a moment.  This psalm above reads like a pity party – “no one is concerned for me. . .I have no refuge. . . no one cares for my life.”  Poor David.  Poor David indeed.  He’s not holding anything back.  I would submit to you that’s a good thing.

How often do we try to “clean up” our prayers before we utter them to God?  I’m sure David did that from time to time, but the Psalms show us that David and other Psalm composers mostly just let God have the unfiltered version.  I honestly believe that God prefers it.  God prefers the real cry of our heart, not the “prettied up” version as if we would impress the Almighty with our prose.  What God wants is a relationship with you… the real you.  David knew that so he just laid his soul bare before God.  Maybe we should do that too.

 

Prayer:  God, I want to tell you about the real condition of my soul today. . .

 

Prayer Focus/Challenge:  I challenge you to write your psalm today.  What are the unfiltered thought and feelings swirling around inside of you today.  Write them down and offer them to God.

 

Song:  Amy Grant – Better Than a Hallelujah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm5kx3xqmg0