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Psalm 142 - A Caveman Prayer · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. We've got a fun episode that
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  we're going to be looking at today.
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  And Psalm 142 says this as its inscription, a mass skill of
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  David when he was in The Cave, a prayer.
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  So if you will, this is a caveman Psalm.
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  And this was written during a really, really dark period in
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  David's life when he was literally being hunted like an
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  animal by his own government, by his own father-in-law.
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  And so if you think your family situation is not so, I promise
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  you it's not quite as crazy as David's family situation at this
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  point in time. So let's read through the Psalm
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  together and see what the Lord has.
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  Verse #1 I cry aloud to Yahweh. I plead aloud to Yahweh for
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  mercy. I pour out my complaint before
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  Him. I reveal my trouble to Him.
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  Although my spirit is weak within me, you know my way along
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  this path I travel. They've hidden a trap for me.
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  Look to the right and see no one stands up for me.
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  There is no refuge for me. No one cares about me.
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  I cry to you, Yahweh, I say, you are my shelter, my portion in
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  the land of the living. Listen to my cry, for I am very
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  weak. Rescue me from those who pursue
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  me, for they are too strong for me.
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  Free me from prison so that I can praise your name.
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  The righteous will gather around me because you deal generously
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  with me. So kind of a shorter Psalm for
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  today and just the seven verses I think has some wonderful
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  truths for us. Some some comfort about where we
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  are in the sight and estimation of God, even as we look at
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  Jesus's ancestor, his physical ancestor, David and what he went
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  through in verses one and two. He says, I cry aloud to Yahweh.
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  I plead aloud to Yahweh for mercy.
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  What kind of strikes me as I look at that is, you know, God
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  hears our silent prayers. He hears the prayers that we
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  just say in our heads. But there is something special
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  about saying your prayers out loud.
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  I won't venture to to say anything like, OK, if you say
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  your prayers out loud, man, God will really listen to you.
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  If you really want God to answer, say your prayers out
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  loud. I don't think it's anything like
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  that. I think it invites humility for
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  us that when we just pray in our heads, sometimes it can seem
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  less daunting. It can seem less like we're
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  taking a stand. Amongst others.
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  I was at AI forget if it was a men's thing, it might have been
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  a pastors conference that my state convention had put on at
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  the beginning of December. And at that, at that meeting,
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  one of the guys that was there, that was a church planter now
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  has been serving in our state convention for a couple of
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  years. His name is Dan Heun and he is a
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  Korean American. I don't want to say pastor.
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  He might actually be an elder at at his church, though.
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  Right now the the village church and what they do in Korea is
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  everyone prays when they pray. Everyone's praying out loud at
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  the same time. So a lot of times in our
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  services at Tabernacle, we'll have times, you know, designated
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  for prayer. And we have someone that opens
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  the service in a word of prayer after a scripture reading.
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  And we have, I, I'll mention some prayer needs for our church
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  and we'll pray over some of those.
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  I pray before the message is given before the sermon and
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  someone prays to end our our service as well as there's a
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  prayer at the conclusion of the message during kind of a time of
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  invitation. And so we we love prayer here at
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  Tabernacle. That's an important thing.
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  Jesus says that his house is to be a House of prayer.
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  And so that's a really, really valuable thing.
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  But man, being able to in that pastors conference here as Dan
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  Young encouraged us as pastors to pray aloud our, our, our
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  prayer request. It was humbling, it was
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  encouraging, it was motivating and heartening to be able to
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  hear dozens of pastors all across the room just pour out
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  their hearts to God. And I love if I could, you know,
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  just snap my fingers, man, I would love to do that with our,
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  our prayer time at, at at Tabernacle.
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  I know part of it's like cultural and because that's the
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  culture in Korea, they're able to do that in a lot of times.
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  But being able to pray aloud to the Lord is a good practice.
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  Sometimes, especially when I'm by myself, I'll pray aloud to
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  God. I don't I don't know if it maybe
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  if someone you know, was watching or listening in, they
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  might be like, all right, I feel like this dude is, you know,
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  kind of sort of talking to himself, but he's talking to,
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  you know, his God. And for me, it's just enjoyable.
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  I do want to say, and here is David is in this time of
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  trouble. He says God, I'm saying it
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  aloud. And I'm trapped in all of these
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  situations. And I've got a couple hundred
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  men that are traveling with me that, you know, they're by my
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  side. But for the most part, my whole
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  country has abandoned me and branded me kind of a traitor.
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  And David says, God, I'm going to speak my prayers aloud to
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  you. Can I encourage you, whether
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  it's, you know, if you pray before a meal, pray aloud to the
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  Lord. If you are in your car and
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  you're driving to work, pray aloud to the Lord.
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  And it can be something that is enjoyable.
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  It makes you realize that you are talking to a person, that
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  God is not just thoughts in your head, but he is a real person.
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  And so you can speak to him and he hears you.
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  And when you speak to him, when you cry, when you plead, you can
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  know that God hears you. Now for, you know, maybe people
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  that are mute and you cannot speak aloud, God still hears
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  their prayers just as much as anyone else's.
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  And so it's not something that you have to do or that if you do
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  it, God gives you, you know, he'll listen to a little more or
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  he'll give you more yeses to your prayers if you say it
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  aloud. But I think from these verses,
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  from many other portions of Scripture, I think it's a good
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  thing to do to pray aloud. Verse #2 I pour out my complaint
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  before Him. I reveal my trouble to him.
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  Did you know that you can complain to God, if you will,
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  using some of the common vernacular?
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  You can be a Karen to God, that you can say, listen, Lord, you
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  don't understand. I have this wonderful plan for
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  how my finances were going to go in February.
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  And then this hit and this hit, and I didn't realize that we
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  were going to have an eternal winter that was happening with,
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  you know, giant mounds of icy snow everywhere.
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  And so that made this problem and this problem, and I had to
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  get this. God, what in the world are you
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  doing? We can bring our complaints to
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  God. Now don't do it.
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  I would encourage you. Don't do it disrespectfully.
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  Don't do it like OK God, I'm, you know, 1 bad thing away from
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  giving up on you. But we can genuinely like bring
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  our complaints to the Master and he hears about us and he cares
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  about us. Now do it in a way that you are
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  actually seeking the work of God.
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  Do not do it in such a way that you are like the children of
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  Israel that as Paul reflecting on and then Philippians says, do
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  everything without murmuring or complaining.
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  We should not have a spirit that goes, man, I'm just so ticked
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  off at God. But we can bring our complaints
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  to God. He's the only one, if you will.
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  He's the only one that deserves to hear our complaints about
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  him. Other people can't do anything
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  for us when our need is to go to God.
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  Let me put it this way. So at Tabernacle, if someone was
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  like, you know, had had something that they wanted
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  changed about, you know, the sermon, well, they could go talk
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  to, you know, my friend Dina Wassmer.
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  They could be like, man, I really think the sermon would be
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  so much better if he did, If Brian did this, this, this and
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  this, and Dina might go, man, those are some wonderful ideas.
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  I really like that, But nothing would change because Dina can't
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  do anything about the preaching because Dina is not preaching.
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  Or someone could go to, you know, Doctor Ron Smith and be
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  like, man, I just really think the piano would be much better
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  if we put this electronic component on it and we dialed in
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  this thing and we did this for it.
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  And that would make the piano so much better.
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  And Doctor Ron Smith would be like, sure, I, I don't know a
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  lot about, you know, the specifics of what you're talking
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  about. But yeah, that sounds
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  interesting because Doctor Ron Smith isn't the one that's
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  playing the piano. He's not, you know, one of the
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  sound booth guys. He is not on the music team.
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  And so he can't really do anything about that.
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  And so often we can complain about our circumstances to other
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  people when other people cannot change our circumstances.
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  The only one that can, you know, transform our lives, the one
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  that knows all of the difficulties that we are facing
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  is God. And so when we bring our
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  complaints to God to say, God, I need you to work, I need you to
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  save, I need mercy, I need you to care because people are
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  against me, because there's hardships, because I'm reaching,
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  you know, kind of rock bottom. I don't have any money left.
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  Bring it to the one who can make a difference.
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  And that person is God. So David there verse 2, I pour
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  out my complaint before him. I reveal my trouble to him and
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  then he says, although my spirit is weak within me, you know my
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  way. He says, God, I feel exhausted,
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  but you know where I'm going. You know the path that you've
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  set me on and the fact that you know who I am, where I'm at,
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  where I'm going, that encourages me that I can keep on going.
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  That like God could say, Brian, I know where you're at.
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  I know the area in which you live.
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  I know your church, I know how you're attempting to disciple
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  some people. And I love and care about you.
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  And so, yeah, I know that there are really bumpy spots along the
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  way. I know that there are fears and
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  their anxieties. But I see.
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  And for me that empowers and and motivates me that I say, man, I
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  I'm not forgotten. I'm not doing this for no
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  reason. God knows my path.
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  And because God knows the way I'm going, I can keep on going,
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  'cause I know he's watching me. You can think about it like a
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  little kid of if they know that their parent is behind them and
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  they know that their parent can see him, well, they might be
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  more bold to do some things or try a trick or swim out a little
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  farther or, you know, wander a little further on the playground
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  because they know mom or dad can see me and so I'm OK.
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  And the fact that God knows our way and our path means that we
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  can continue on because we know that our father sees us.
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  second-half of verse 3, verse part of or sorry.
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  And then verse 4 along this path I travel.
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  They have hidden a trap for me. I talked last episode or two
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  episodes ago. We have our enemy Satan, who is
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  setting traps for us either in temptation that we would walk
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  away from what God has said into wickedness, or he'll try and
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  bring trials into our life that we just quit God because of how
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  hard life gets. And so here there is a trap that
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  is hidden for us and we know what those traps are.
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  Verse #4 Look to the right and see no one stands up for me.
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  David here all alone, like running from deserted area to
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  deserted area with his group of, you know, I'll call it the group
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  of merry men because Saul jealous of David, thinking that
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  David wants to steal the throne from Saul, is hunting him down
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  and is trying to kill him. And David says there's no one
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  that's standing up for me to go. No, Saul, we're not going to do
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  this. He doesn't want your he doesn't
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  want to steal your throne or your Kingdom.
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  He's your son-in-law. And so you need to stop this.
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  And David says, No1 stands up for me.
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  There is no refuge for me. No one cares about me.
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  Hey man, that's how many of us feel, that we say God.
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  No one gets it. And I feel totally alone in this
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  moment. Where are you?
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  Do you care about me? And I love the old hymn.
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  No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
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  There's no other friends so kind as He.
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  No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
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  Oh, how much he cares for me. Verse #5I cry to you, Yahweh, I
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  say, You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the
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  living here. He says, God, if I'm going to
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  have a safe place, it's not even going to be this cave that I'm
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  in right now. God, you are the place where I
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  find shelter, where I find safety for my life.
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  Do you run again and again to the shelter of God's character
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  and His love for you when you encounter hard times?
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  Because that is the sturdy ground.
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  He is never going to abandon you.
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  He's never going to get rid of you.
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  He's never going to make you not his child.
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  And so you can run to him and you can find shelter in him.
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  And then he says, my portion in the land of the living.
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  David was like the 7th I think it was the 7th born son of
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  Jesse. He would not have gotten much in
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  the way of physical inheritance. You know the the family land
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  would predominantly go to a lie of the first born.
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  If I remember correctly, that's his oldest brother.
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  And so Eliab would get, you know, the family land and the
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  vast majority of the blessing. And then brothers 2345 and six,
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  you know, they'd get their portions.
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  And David would get something kind of piddly at the end.
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  And he says, God, my inheritance, what I get out of
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  life is you. He says, you are my portion.
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  I don't have much. I don't have right now, a home,
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  a land, any of that. But David says, God, I have you
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  and that's enough. Can I ask you if God never gives
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  you a different job, if God never gives you more money, if
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  he never gets you that relationship that you're
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  wanting, if he never gives you anything else other than
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  himself, is that enough for you? Are you satisfied with having
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  him now? In his great goodness to us, He
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  continues to pour out blessing on blessing on blessing.
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  And so he has given us himself, and that is enough.
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  That is the thing that we ought to rejoice in.
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  But there's no guarantee that God will give you everything
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  that you desire, that you want. And so you need to decide if
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  you're going to have David's heart here to say, God, you're
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  my portion. What I get out of life is you,
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  and that's OK. I I want safety, I want
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  protection. I want you to stand up for me.
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  I want you to care for me when no one else is but God.
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  You are the best part of my existence and I am happy to have
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  you. Verse number six, Listen to my
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  cry for I am very weak. Rescue me from those who pursue
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  me for they are too strong for me.
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  I've felt this man over the last how long have I been lead
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  pastor? Senior pastor now 23.
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  So I'm coming up on in December. It'll be 3 years.
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  I think technically I'm at like 2 1/4 coming up on 2 1/4 years
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  of of being a lead pastor. There's been so many times where
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  I've just been like, hey God, I have no idea what to do in this
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  situation. You know, I can't fix, I can't
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  fix this relationship. I don't know what I'm going to
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  say to these people. God, you know the
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  misunderstanding that happened here.
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  And I don't know how to like, unravel that whole mess.
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  And so, God, I'm weak. I don't have the knowledge to be
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  able to fix all of this, but you do.
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  And so God, I'm weak, but you are strong.
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  So I want to rely on you and that's a that's a good prayer to
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  pray his God. I I ain't got the tools
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  necessary for this, but you do and so would you work then verse
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  7 as he ends free me from prison.
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  This is metaphorical present. He's he's unable to go back to
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  family, unable to have land, unable to do like regular work
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  or whatever. He can't even do shepherding
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  work because because of being pursued by his government.
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  And so he says free me from prison so that I can praise your
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  name. The righteous will gather around
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  me because you deal generously with me.
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  I love this thought. He says the righteous are going
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  to gather around me because they see what you have done for me.
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  And this is a constant picture in Scripture that the people
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  that God has chosen, He has chosen them to be a blessing to
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  all those around them. When he chose Abraham, it was so
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  that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through
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  Abraham. And so it is for us that we are
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  called to be a blessing to others.
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  And even as we pray and as we seek God's help in our difficult
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  circumstances. Are you hoping, are you planning
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  on when God works on your behalf that you're going to, that
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  you're going to have that spill out on other people?
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  You're going to tell other people what God has done.
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  You are going to bless others generously as God blesses you
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  generously that you are going to speak kind words into other
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  people's life even in the middle of hardships.
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  Because God has spoken kindly to you, are you willing to say the
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  goodness and generosity and presence of God isn't going to
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  end with me? Instead, I'm going to pass all
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  of those things on to other people.
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  I'm going to take what God has given me, and I'm going to give
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  it to others. Well, I love this little Psalm
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  and I hope it was an encouragement to you today.
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  Grateful for end of another week and looking forward to even this
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  coming Sunday. We're preaching through John 14
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  right now at Tabernacle during the Last Supper, the last meal
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  of Jesus's life, and he's talking about how he's giving us
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  the Holy Spirit. And so super excited for that
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  for Sunday. But hope you have a wonderful
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  day. See you next episode.