In the cave

Psalm 142

Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

 I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord;

I make supplication with my voice to the Lord.

2 I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare my trouble before Him.

3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,

You knew my path. In the way where I walk

They have hidden a trap for me.

4 Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me;

There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul.

5 I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.

6 “Give heed to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me.

7 “Bring my soul out of prison, So that I may give thanks to Your name; The righteous will surround me,

For You will deal bountifully with me.”

My husband, Bruce, and I used to be quite adventurous, in our younger years.  Some would perhaps say, a bit reckless.

We’ve been white water rafting twice.  Once, when just engaged, and again, the first year of our marriage.  We decided to go to a Christian kind of Woodstock, for the second part of our Honeymoon.  But, the first part, we spent hiking in West Virginia.  Such a beautiful State, so rural and mountainous.  As we were driving down along a river, we spotted a cave at the side of the road, slightly up a hill.  I can’t remember which of us suggested it, but we decided to explore the cave.  No flashlights, no protective gear, no nothing.  I know, stupid right?  Our Guardian angels were kept fairly busy in our earlier years.

Anyway, when we entered the cave we could see just a bit, but the further in we went, the darker it became, until we couldn’t see anything.  We became disoriented, even lost a bit.  I was terrified.  We couldn’t see the opening behind us, but we could see a faint light, way in the distance.  We moved toward that light.  As we did, it was total darkness, until we got closer and closer to that Light.  We were so relieved when we finally climbed out up, out of the cave, and into the Sunshine again.

So, I can relate to David, just a little bit, in his own “cave experience.”  Life can feel confined, dark, and scary like this sometimes.  It did for Bruce and I recently, in the last 10 years.  We were immersed in a time of extreme loss. it came out of nowhere, like a tornado, and ripped so much out of our hands.  We felt so helpless, with no ability to control anything, except our own reaction to all that was going on.  It was the most terrifying Spiritual experience we had ever known up to that point in our lives.

4 Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me;

There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul.

Ah, but there is One who cares for me, Spirit, Soul and Body.  My Precious God and King cares for me, for us.  During this time of loss, we were far away from any family, friends or loved ones.  We were cut off from all that was familiar to us, like being in a foreign land.  We were alone with God, and with each other.  My best friends in this place were my husband, the Natural Beauty of my surroundings, my mini-van, my precious Son, Cody, our two other children, Derek and Meg, far away, and my cats and dogs.  I drove alone to many places, praying as I drove, trying to understand all that was going on.

5 I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.

6 “Give heed to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me.

I learned to lean, and I mean lean hard, into God during this time.  I was so lost, so scared, like being in that cave.  But God rescued us.  He brought us through.  He brought us out of that dark place, that dark time of loss, and into a beautiful, wide – open space.  We have scars, and  some slow-healing wounds still throb with pain, and we’re tender to the touch in places where we were beat up a bit.  But, we grew to trust God with all that we are in that time.  It was a time where we fainted and He scooped us up and carried us out like a Warrior. He fought for us, He stood in the Gap and protected us from complete despair.  He held us, as we collapsed, from the weight of it all.

If you are going through a difficult time, a time of confusion, pain, loss; God is for you, God is with you.  Reach out to Him in the darkness of your own cave experience.  He will take hold of your hand and lead you, guide you, sustain you.  He is so very faithful.