Slices
Prepare
‘You are my hiding place / you always fill my heart with songs of deliverance. / Whenever I am afraid I will trust in you.’*
Bible passage
A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.
1 I cry aloud to the Lord;
I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out before him my complaint;
before him I tell my trouble.
3 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.
4 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.
5 I cry to you, Lord;
I say, ‘You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.’
6 Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.
7 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.
Explore
In the time of Isaiah, the Israelites were trusting in all sorts of things – wealth, alliances with other countries, their forms of religion – but they weren’t trusting in God. In this psalm, David is feeling trapped, tricked, deserted by friends and supporters, weak and unable to help himself – but he knows whom he can trust. As he states his desperation in this psalm, each alternate verse (vs 1,3,5,7) sees him turning back to reliance on God, deliberately choosing to look beyond the immediate difficulties and to see things in relation to God’s strength and care.
This is not to minimise the difficulties David was facing – physically his life was in danger, his reputation was in tatters, his relationships broken and absolutely everything was a mess (see 1 Samuel 24:1–3). But he knows that God is aware of all that is happening to him (v 3), that God is a refuge (v 5), that God is David’s inheritance, not just after he dies, but now, ‘in the land of the living’. David knows God is good, and so he appeals to God to save him, so that he can tell others of the goodness of God.
Respond
Use this psalm as a template for your own prayer. Begin with a direct appeal to God, tell him something you are concerned about and remind yourself what God is like. Finish with a pledge about your relationship with God.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 31,32; Luke 1:1–38
Pray for Scripture Union
The Camps team of SU New Zealand are preparing four school holiday winter camps in July. Pray for two camps based at their Adventure Lodge in Whakapapa, Mt Ruapehu.
