We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.
Read Psalm 142 Listen to Psalm 142
Podcast (cnc-daily-psalms): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:54 — 1.2MB)
Have you ever felt misunderstood, or have had to deal with huge pressure in relationships, all on your own? This was David’s experience here. This psalm was written before David became king. Here he was hiding out from Saul. God had told Saul that David would become king. Saul wild with jealousy, tried to kill David, hence the hideout.
David had hit rock bottom; his mental health was not good, yet his instinctive reaction was to ‘cry… to the Lord’ (verse 1). David was abandoned by others, but not by God. God is his ‘refuge’ (a safe place to go for safety) and his ‘portion’ (his delight). He did not bottle up his emotions (verse 6), he expected to be praising God again for his help in the future (verse 7).
Our mental health is important and being open about our emotions and to be able to pray and share with someone else, is key to good mental health. We know that because of Covid-19 there is pressure on everyone’s mental health. Do you know someone who is feeling overwhelmed because of the pandemic? Can you be that listening ear for them? What do you do when you are going through tough times, do you cry out to God and talk to someone?
When Jesus was under pressure in the Garden of Gethsemane, he made sure he was not alone. Let’s make sure we do the same!
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…’ (Matthew 11:28).