Sermonstudio

I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.
When my spirit is faint,
you know my way ...
no one cares for me ...
Give heed to my cry,
for I am brought very low.
-- Psalm 142:2-3a, 4c, 6a

Theme: A great example of prayer for the discouraged or the depressed

Outline
1-2 -- I am laying out my distress before the Lord.
3-4 -- Lord, you know my situation and my helplessness.
5-7 -- Bring me out of this "prison" so I can thank you and the righteous can share with me.

Notes
• Lament
• A "Maskil of David" -- a religious instruction for meditation and prayer based on David's experience in the cave of Adullum in 1 Samuel 22 or the cave of Engedi in 1 Samuel 24.
• Note his desperate situation (vv. 3, 4, 6, 7a).
• This psalm was on the lips of Saint Francis when he died on October 3, 1226.
• See a Christian application of this in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11.

For Reflection
• This psalm deals with the experience Luther called Anfechtung (for which there is no English equivalent), a time when one's faith is being attacked such that sin, fear, guilt, or troubled conscience tempt one to despair.
• Luther says in such circumstances one must:
a. not rely on self or one's feelings but on the words offered in God's name;
b. not imagine he's the only one suffering like this;
c. be ready to yield to God's will;
d. pray, "I will pour out my complaint before him";
e. realize blessings lie under such a trial, itself a sign of God's love; and
f. never doubt the promise of our faithful God.

Remember our sins are all paid by Christ!1

Prayer
O Lord, take from me that sorrow which the love of self may produce from my sufferings, and from my unsuccessful hopes and designs in this world, while regardless of Thy glory; but create in me a sorrow resembling Thine. Let me not henceforth desire health or life, except to spend them for Thee, with Thee, and in Thee....
-- from Blaise Pascal, d. 1662

____________

1. Martin Luther, Luther's Works -- Devotional Writings I, Vol. 42, ed. Martin O. Dietrich and Helmut T. Lehman (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), pp. 183-186.