Wed.3.4.15...Super Psalms- Psalm 142- Lament

If all we had were wisdom psalms, (such as Ps.1 and 91 that we've studied), we might think, as Job's thee friends did, that God always blesses the way of the righteous and curses the way of the wicked. But we know that life doesn't always go that way. Even Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble" John.16:33. (It's the wise soldier that knows he is going to face battles.) We struggle at times with this tension of bad things happening to us when there is a good God ruling. We also long for a close relationship with God, but sometimes He seems distant or unresponsive. David felt that way at times and he poured out such feelings in Psalm 142. This is known as a lament psalm (to lament: to be sad or sorrowful.) Often lament psalms would end on a hopeful note, as this one does, but a few are sad from beginning to end. (The saddest psalm is Psalm 88.) Let’s turn now to Psalms chapter 142- just kidding- Let’s turn to Psalm 142. 

First, note the title or superscription of this Psalm- "When he (David) was hiding in the cave." As you may know, for several years, David was on the run for his life from demonized King Saul. Knowing the background to what we are reading helps us better understand the passage. That's BIG- Bible Interpretation Guideline #7. For example, knowing the background to the story of the 10 plagues upon the land of Egypt is eye opening. Take a quick glance at the following chart and you'll see that each of the plagues was a mockery of various gods of Egypt- hhttp://biblecharts.org/oldtestament/thetenplagues.pdf 

Listing can be another great way to dig things out of a passage as we Read and Explore it. So let’s do that as we read through Ps.142.

1.- List some things that made David so troubled.

2.- Now list some things that David wanted God to do for him.

David was definitely troubled and desperate for God to rescue him. That leads us to another BIG Bible Interpreting Guideline- seek to identify the mood of the writer. Is he sad, mad glad, scared, tender? His mood helps you better understand his message. Isn’t it sad that David felt like no one cared for his life? We long for caring friendships, but most men don’t have such. I’m so glad we have the opportunity to develop such through M3. It’s only going to get better as we continue to share and serve together. Gordon McDonald is an elderly, wise Christian leader, author and former pastor. 30 years ago when he was in his 40s, this well known leader cheated on his wife. His wife ended up forgiving him, but it cost him dearly in other ways. Looking back, he realized that one of the top things that made him so prone to an affair was not having any close male friendships. He has listed several questions to ask regarding the development of strong friendships. I thought of you all immediately. Here’s the gist of them. (David was sorely lacking these as he bemoaned, "No one cares for my soul" 142:4.)

Do you have people who care for you? They would be there for you in a crisis.

Are you spending time with godly people of wisdom?

Are you connecting with people who are stimulating you to grow and think?

Do you have people who care enough about you to correct you?

Do you have friends who are quick to forgive you, believing that you were behaving out of character?

Do you have friends who believe in you for great things and encourage you?

Are you with people who talk about the Lord and inspire you to love and serve Christ?

Do you have godly friends with whom you can also laugh and have fun?

It's so good to be in a group where we care for each other. Remember, if you are ever feeling overwhelmed, just send out a "Broken Arrow" text so we can all fly into action for you.

3.-Write on your MP3 card, anything that strikes you from Psalm 142 that you want to meditate on and pass on to others. (Do the “Did it.”). Perhaps there is a person that you can think of that's feeling uncared for. Or you can remind the proteges you may yet be seeking to recruit that this is a team that truly is striving to be a caring band of brothers.

G. How many individuals or groups did you get to share and enrich from your MP3 card?

R? If you didn't have anything to R about, just skip typing the letter R. As we mentioned, this helps clarify things for us in scoring too. Same thing with the other letters.

E? How many teammates did you Encourage since yesterday?

A? "O Lord help us activate men who are holed up in a cave, feeling like no one cares for their soul." Yet they could potentially be great warriors like David. 

T? Feel free to also share outreach opportunities you had, or you can just put up numbers.

Announcements
I always want to hear from you regarding ways we can improve. A couple of you recommended that we make available on the M3 website a pdf version of the text that would be easier to read. Agreed! Now when you open up our website, you will right away see a pdf icon to click on if you so wish. 

Our prayers for Power HOUSE men are being answered. Proteges are turning in their applications to me. Yahoo! I will contact you when one of your proteges emails me his application. So if you haven't heard from me, keep talking to them. Their sign up deadline is just one week from today, March 11th. 

High Fives to so many of you! And congrats to those scoring 10 or more- Eddie, Dave and Robert with 10; George with 12 and Sam with 14! Bless all of you for sowing into others. No new protege will lament saying, "No one cares for my life."

1 Tim.4:15	G=God's Word	G MP3 sharing	Right Wrongs	Encouragement	A= Attack Prayers	T	Totals
	For Mon.3.2.15
Alpha Force
Fire Team 1
Jack Rogers U.2	1	2		3	1		7
Roger Vinlasaca U.2	1	2		1	1		5
Fire Team 2							0
Mike Pagan U.2	1	2		1	1	1	6
George Rabiela	1	2	1	5	1	2	12
Fire Team 3							0
Sam Vargas U.2	1	3	2	3	1	4	14
Gary Remson U.2	1	1	1	2	1		6
Fire Team 4							0
Robert Roman U.1	1	3		3	1	2	10
Vince Diaz U.1	1	1		5	1		8
							0
Delta Force							0%
Fire Team 1							0
Alvin James U.2	1	1		1	1		4
Kentrayle Adams U.1	1		1		1		3
Fire Team 2							0
Dave Heidekruger U.2	1	3		4	1	1	10
Israel Fuentes U.2	1	3		2	1		7
Fire Team 3							0
Daniel Contreras U.1	1		1	2	1		5
Antonio Palomar	1				1		2
Fire Team 4							0
Eddie Morales U.2	1	1		6	1	1	10
Ismael Andrade U.2	1	1		2	1		5

Here’s a summary of our BIG Bible Interpreting Guidelines (We’ll discover others as we go along in our series.)

Ask questions!

Give careful consideration to what you read.  

The purpose of rightly interpreting the Bible is to rightly obey it.

The Bible is the best interpreter of itself. So compare scripture with Scripture.

Being prayerful is commendable but it is not a dependable replacement for the careful study of Scripture.

It’s imperative that we know what kind of literature we are reading to interpret it and apply it correctly.

Knowing the background to what we are reading helps us better understand the passage. Commentaries and online resources can help us with such.
Knowing the mood of the author helps you better understand his message.