FBC Morning Light – December 17, 2022

Good Saturday morning, people of faith.

Taking Shelter in a Cave and Feeling Deserted

We're in Psalm 142 this morning, and I wanted to ask you a question. Why would you take shelter in a cave? Well, I ask that question because this psalm comes to us written by David, a prayer when he was in a cave.

Now as you think of that question, why would you take shelter in a cave, sometimes you just go into a cave to explore. Sometimes maybe on a night like tonight, or I'm actually recording this at night, you might be able to hear the rain coming down on the roof of the church building here, and you might take shelter from a storm.

Well, David was taking shelter as his pursuers were pursuing him ultimately to try and kill.

Him.

We're not sure which cave he was in, and we're not sure which time, whether it was from Saul or Absalom, but he was on the run. And at this time, he's in a very, very dark time where not only, I mean, his pursuers have set a trap for him, and he looks around and his friends have left him.

And he's in a place where he feels that no one is caring for his soul.

Let me read.

It says,.

They have secretly set a snare for me. Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me. Refuge has failed me. No one cares for my soul. Now it's likely that you haven't had to flee your pursuers into a cave for shelter, but.

You may have.

I don't know that about you, but oftentimes in our lives, things go happen in our lives with work, with family, with unexpected death, with so many things that we feel that so many have deserted us. And what is your response?

That's a very key question. When these times of despair happen, what is it that you do? Do you have an initial response of trying to look for an escape? You escape into games or into watching TV or into a self-medicated state?

Do you try and find comfort in commiserating in your troubles with others who will listen? Do you try and manipulate situations to get things to come out your way? Is this your first response? Let me assure you today that those things, while providing perhaps a temporary alleviation of your issue, will not provide an ultimate solution.

There is one and there is only one to whom the power is to be able to deliver you from the depths of despair. And it is to this one that David would continually cry out.

Crying Out to the Lord in Despair

Let me read.

In verse 1, it says, I cry out to the Lord with my voice. With my voice to the Lord, I make my supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him. I declare before Him my trouble. In verse 5, I cried out to You, O Lord.

I said, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name. The righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.

Be assured this day, people of faith, that there is one who can deliver. There is one who will stay closer than a brother. This is the one to whom you should cry. This should be your first response in times of darkness and times of trouble.

Even in times of rejoicing, the Lord should be the first to whom we turn. Let's keep these thoughts in our minds today, and let us pray. Heavenly Father, this morning, we come to You as You are the only one who has the power to deliver us in times of despair.

When others have abandoned us and left us, You shall remain with us. It is to You we cry out this day. It's in Your Son's name, Jesus, that we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.