“Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.”
Psalm 142:7
Every prisoner dreams of the day he or she will go home. I prayed that the Lord would work in the hearts of the Texas Parole Board members to grant me an early release. I was growing as a believer in Jesus Christ, and my deepest desire was to worship God with His people on the Lord’s Day outside the prison walls.
As the title of Psalm 142 reminds us, David, too, spent many years cut off from the worship of God’s people while waiting for the Lord to make him king. He was often running from Saul, even forced to hide from him in a cave (1 Samuel 22:1). Though innocent, David was a “marked man.” When the darkness of the cave seemed almost too much for his soul to bear, where did he turn? He cried out to the Lord in prayer: “I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’ Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need.” (vv. 5-6).
My own prayer to get out of prison wasn’t answered immediately. I was denied for parole four times before being released in 2009. But I was free in Christ long before then.
As the title of Psalm 142 reminds us, David, too, spent many years cut off from the worship of God’s people while waiting for the Lord to make him king. He was often running from Saul, even forced to hide from him in a cave (1 Samuel 22:1). Though innocent, David was a “marked man.” When the darkness of the cave seemed almost too much for his soul to bear, where did he turn? He cried out to the Lord in prayer: “I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’ Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need.” (vv. 5-6).
My own prayer to get out of prison wasn’t answered immediately. I was denied for parole four times before being released in 2009. But I was free in Christ long before then.
Scripture Focus
Psalm 142
Insight
The Lord can turn your cries of despair into joyful shouts of praise.
Bible In A Year
- Exodus 35-36
- Psalm 43
- Luke 7
