I Lift My Voice to the LORD (1 Samuel 22:1-5; Psalm 57:1-11) A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer.
“I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.
Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul. I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me. Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because of Your goodness to me.”
“I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.” David is a young warrior on the run from King Saul, who is trying to kill David so that David cannot succeed Saul. David and his men are hiding in a cave and hoping nobody will betray them to Saul.
“Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.” After years of being on the run, David has few illusions left; he’s seen too many people try to get close to him only so they can betray him to Saul for a reward. David knows that only God has delivered him from the traps set by his enemies.
“Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul. I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” David is a realist; many of his men have joined him because they are exiles with no other place to go, not because they are so dedicated to David. If Saul were suddenly to announce an amnesty for anyone previously supporting David, David might fing himself without any supporters. God is the only One on whom David can rely.
“Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me. Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because of Your goodness to me.” David is sitting in this cave in the dark while his men sleep around him. What’s going to happen tomorrow? Will Saul finally capture David? If Saul captures David, how gruesome a death will David suffer? Are there really any righteous people left in Israel, or has everybody deserted God to follow Saul? Is God really going to deliver David, or has David made a mistake in trusting God?
APPLICATION: Why do people follow leaders? Many follow for personal gain. Some follow for political reasons. A few might follow because they share the same vision as the leader and believe in that call to leadership.
One challenge for any leader is handling all these various classes of followers, no matter their motivation. A second challenge is to encourage those who have mixed motives to commit to the leader’s vision. (Some days, this process closely resembles attempting to herd cats!)
These days, most organizations have both a mission and vision statement. The purpose of these statements is to focus the attentions of workers so they will hopefully work together for these common goals. But organizations are only as good as their leadership; no leadership means chaos! No matter how glowing the mission and vision statements are, if the uppermost leadership fails to fulfill them, the rest of the workers will ignore them. The Bible tells us that “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. “ (Proverbs 29:18)
What’s your mission in life? What is your vision for fulfilling that mission? By now, you might be scratching your head and saying, “I don’t have a clue!” Ask God. God has not created you by accident; God has wonderful plans for your life if you will only ask Him to reveal them. But be ready for the first suggestions to be simple ones. God can work in small details as well as big ones, and most of us are not rich, famous, or outstanding, apart from God. Let’s pray.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You for Your purposes for our lives. Open our eyes to see Your purposes and to fulfill them. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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