Psalm 142:4 “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. 5 I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.”
In a time of great distress, David said, “there was no man that would know me”; that is, “no man” would take notice of me to help me, to encourage me, to say some kind word to me, or to show brotherly love to me. He felt himself to be entirely alone with no one who even cared enough to say a kind word to him, much less to come to his aide. In his “very low” (Psalm 142:6) condition, he turned to the Lord and said, “I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.”! When there was none to help and none who cared; David found “refuge” in the Lord and he knew that his Lord would not forsake him, the Lord would be his “refuge” as long as he lived. He knew that the Lord “shalt deal bountifully with” (142:7) with him. Even faithful Children of God can find themselves in such a “very low” condition; but, like David, we know that “My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2)! Like Jonah, we can joyfully say, “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.” (Jonah 2:7). And like David and Jonah, the Lord never fails to help us! But, we must remember that our Lord is God and that He knows best how to deliver us and to help us as we go about serving Him!