God Welcomes Both Tears and Trust (Psalms 140–143)

What do you do when words cut deep, options shrink, and your chest tightens with the sense that no one sees you? We walked through Psalms 140–143 and found a surprising permission slip: bring the tears, bring the complaints, and then plant your feet in trust. David’s life is on fire from many directions—poisoned speech, family conflict, unnamed enemies—and yet a steady theme emerges. God is not merely cleaning up problems; he is fashioning outcomes for the good of those who belong to him.

We start with the sting of Psalm 140, where David treats slander and sabotage as real threats but refuses to answer venom with venom. Instead, he banks on the God who “maintains” the cause of the afflicted, a word that hints at craftsmanship and purpose. That perspective expands in Psalm 141, where David refuses to blame the world for wounds he helped create. He welcomes rebuke as kindness and asks for guardrails on his words and desires. This is accountability as grace, a practice that forms resilient hearts and steadier lives.

The tone deepens in Psalm 142’s cave, where loneliness presses hard enough to speak. David’s complaint does not drift into cynicism because he carries it to God, not away from him. The result is a turn from minor key sorrow to a clear confession: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Finally, Psalm 143 gives us a prayer that re-centers everything: “Teach me to do your will.” Instead of bargaining for comfort, David asks for alignment, anchoring his hope in God’s name and righteousness. That shift—from outcome control to surrendered formation—creates peace that survives the storm.

If you’ve felt hunted by rumor, trapped by your own choices, or abandoned in a cave of silence, this conversation offers a map and a companion. Listen for practical ways to welcome wise correction, pray honestly without posturing, and move from complaint to confidence. If this speaks to you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find these timely psalms and timeless hope.

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Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Chapters

• 0:00 Framing The Question Of Overwhelm
• 2:12 David Under Attack In Psalm 140
• 4:32 Trusting God To Fashion Outcomes
• 7:02 Inner Chaos And Accountability In Psalm 141
• 9:47 Complaints In The Cave In Psalm 142
• 12:22 From Minor Key To Refuge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:37

Welcome to the Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davy. What do you do when the world attacks and when your heart is overwhelmed? Where do you turn when you're out of options and out of strength? David shows us the way. Today we arrive in Psalm 140 through 143. And in these Psalms, David reminds you that when you make God your priority, you can know that He will do what's best for you. Always. Here's Stephen with a lesson called God Welcomes Both Tears and Trust.

SPEAKER_01: 2:15

As we sail together today on this wisdom journey, we now arrive at Psalm 140. Now this Psalm of David was written during the days when he was running for his life from King Saul, and that's on David's mind as he writes here in verse 1. Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men, preserve me from violent men who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. That's all they all they seem to want to do. Stir up war, stir up trouble for David and start another fight. Well, verse three now describes what they do, they make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of vipers. In other words, they sharpen their words to make them poisonous and deadly, and then fire them, and they're firing at David. David writes here in verse four that they want to trip up his feet. That is, they want to trap him. They want to ruin him. You might feel today like David did back then. Well, you might not be running for your life, but you might be the target of words or actions from others that are just sort of dripping with venom, painful poison. You might have somebody who's after you, wants to trip you up, wants to bring you down, maybe ruin your reputation, maybe maybe take away your influence. Well, David, he's going to show us how to get through times like these. Here's David's encouragement to you and me today. You could call this David's statement of faith here in verse 12. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted. Now the Hebrew word he uses here for maintain, it means literally to make or to fashion. So here's David's statement of faith, and this can be your statement of faith as well. You can be this confident that the Lord is also fashioning, he's already fashioned the final outcome of your circumstances, and they will declare his glory, and along the way they're going to develop your faith. You know, it strikes me that David here sounds a lot like the Apostle Paul who put it this way in Romans 8 28, that all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. Now, Paul didn't say all things are good, because all things aren't good. No, he is saying here that God is going to work all things together for good according to his ultimate purpose. Now you might be getting a little taste of that now. God might remove that enemy, he might restore your reputation, he might vindicate you. But we know for sure what David's writing here in verse 13. He says this Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name, the upright shall dwell in your presence. So David is looking forward to that day when God makes everything right. And frankly, I believe he's looking forward to that day like you and I are when we see how everything worked together for our good as God makes everything right. Now, here in Psalm 141, we find David going to the Lord, and again it's it's because of trouble. But this time, uh trouble isn't just coming at him, trouble is coming from within him. Many Bible scholars, and I think correctly associate this psalm with David's flight from the city of Jerusalem as his son Absalom is marching in to take the throne, and no doubt intending to put his father, David, to death. And this was a chaotic, this was a frightening scene. It was described for us back in 2 Samuel chapters 15 and 16. But keep in mind that all this chaos was tied to David's sin with Bathsheba. This was tied to David's failure as a father to Absalom. So what can we learn from David's response to the chaos that in a very real way is flowing out of a consequence of his own sin? Well, first of all, David is humbling himself before the Lord. He invites accountability from godly people. He writes here in verse five, let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness. Let him rebuke me, it is oil for my head, and let my head not refuse it. In other words, David wants correction. He wants guidance from the Lord through wise counsel, through spiritual accountability. He's he's saying, Bring that to my attention, because David wants to be made right. Well now here in Psalm 142, we're given another Psalm of David, and this again is a psalm where David is experiencing trouble. The superscription or heading reads, A maskil of David. Maskil refers to teaching us, making us, making the reader wise. Now we're also told here in the heading that David wrote this song while he was hiding out in a cave. David's surrounded as he's writing this psalm. He's frankly out of options. In fact, one author titled this psalm The Psalm of a Hunted Soul. Here in verse 1, David writes, With my voice I cry out to the Lord. With my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him. I tell my trouble before Him. You know, this must mean that it's okay. There's nothing wrong with bringing your complaints to the Lord. There's no need to hide how you feel. If David can complain to God here in that damp, dark cave, well, you can too when you're surrounded by trouble. But just notice here that David's not telling his troubles to just anybody who's going to listen. In fact, he says here in verse two, I tell my trouble before him that is the Lord. There's almost a sense here that he's doing that because there's nobody else to talk to. He says here in verse 4, no one cares for my soul. I wonder if you've ever felt like that. Maybe you feel like that today. You're weak, you're troubled, you're you're filled with complaints, you're surrounded by difficulty, and and then on top of it all, it it seems like nobody out there really cares about you or your soul. Now, this song here is what I'd like to think of in the minor key. It's sad, it's it's lonely, and frankly, that can be the reality for the believer. David's minor key song happens to be included in God's inspired word. Don't overlook that fact. Now I don't know how long David stayed in that cave singing in the minor key. I don't know how long he was in there, and but I do know this. He changes into a major key. He now sings of his trust in the Lord. Verse 5. You, Lord, are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Troubled? Yes. But here is the rock on which a troubled David is choosing to stand. Let me tell you something, beloved. Like David, don't ever be afraid of taking your worst days to the Lord. David certainly did. David knew how to cry. David even knew how to complain. So go ahead. Go ahead and tell the Lord exactly how you feel. Just make sure you imitate David here and anchor your confidence on who God is. He's your refuge in the land of the living. Then you won't be living through your worst days or months or years without the presence of the Lord and the confidence that He has promised to make it all work together for your good and for His glory one day. Well, now with that we come to another Psalm of David, Psalm 143, and like the previous three Psalms, uh this one starts out in the minor key. There's trouble again. Only this time David's enemy isn't King Saul or his son Absalom. It's some anonymous enemy. We're not told who it is. Now I don't know about you, but it's encouraging to me to know that David had more than two enemies. Well, David is facing another one, and this one is not even named. Well well, this is understandably on David's heart because he's he's preoccupied by this anonymous enemy. He writes here in verse three. For the enemy has pursued my soul, therefore my spirit faints within me, my heart within me is dismayed. Now what's encouraging here is the way David works through his feelings of despair. He moves from uh regretting his circumstances to writing here in verse 10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. In other words, I don't want this difficult experience to be wasted. I don't want to waste my suffering. Lord, use it to teach me to do your will. So with that, David David effectively stops looking in the mirror and he turns his attention from what he wants to what God wants, which is a great reminder, isn't it? Has it ever occurred to you that that perhaps you aren't getting an answer to your prayer because it's all about what you want in life, what you want to receive from God in life? Well, be careful to follow David's example here. Listen to the way he ends this psalm over here in verse 11. For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble, for I am your servant. Wow, what a wonderful example. This is, by the way, beloved, this is how you give your tears to God. This is how you pour out your complaints to God, and this is how you renew your trust, maybe for you right now. This is how you renew your trust in God, who is working everything together to bring glory to himself and to bring good ultimately into your life. Well, until next time, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 13:12

Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davey. To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.