TOPIC:“David's Divine Discovery”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Psalms 142:4
“No man cared for my soul”
As I begin my message I am reminded of the words of Victor Hugo, the great French novelist, who declared: “Christianity has taught me to care.” Why is that? Because at the heart of Christianity is a heart that was broken and bled for us. Jesus cared enough to get involved. Or go to the tombstone of a famous Gospel preacher and find engraved upon it a candle burned down to its socket and underneath, these words: “In living for others I am burned away.” Say what we will, that is at the heart of the Christianity of the New Testament. It is a Christianity that has a caring ministry at the very center of it.
Frankly this caring ministry we as Christians are to exhibit is found everywhere throughout the pages of the New Testament. Of the good Samaritan and the wounded man we read in St. Luke these words: “and brought him to an inn, and took CARE of him” (Luke 10:34). Of the considerate Pastor we read: “take CARE of the church of God” (I Timothy 3:5). Of the thoughtful Philippian believers in helping the Apostle Paul he writes: “It is a great joy to me, in the Lord, that after so long your CARE for me has now blossomed afresh” (Philippians 4:10, NEB). And this same Paul writes of each one of us: “That there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same CARE one for another” (I Corinthians 12:25, NAS).
Can anyone doubt that Jesus Himself was the great example of this sort of ministry? He was concerned about the whole person - body, soul and spirit. Listen to what He said about the soul: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul” (Mark 9:36)? If that be the case, and it is, why did I read recently about a man who said: “I would have been a Christian if only somebody had CARED a little more for my soul.” Is it because we Christians have not genuinely made CARE a priceless gift to be cherished and used? Perhaps that's one reason why Christians don't see more people come to Christ and His Church because they don't have the concern and compassion like they should.
Such was the case of the people of Israel. In the Psalm before us we have a picture of David the prisoner and Saul the persecutor. David finds as he hides in that damp and cold cave from Saul what a lot of people today are discovering. That no one CARES about them. No one CARES for their welfare, no one CARES about their danger, no one CARES about their salvation. No one cares about their SOUL.
I ask: Who CARES for what? Who CARES for what is happening to the scores of people around us? Do you? Let's find out . . .