John Calvin Commentary Psalms 142:1

"I cry with my voice unto Jehovah; With my voice unto Jehovah do I make supplication." — Psalms 142:1 (ASV)

I cried to Jehovah. It showed singular presence of mind in David that he was not paralyzed with fear, or that he did not, in a paroxysm of fury, take vengeance upon his enemy, as he easily could have done; and that he was not driven by despair to take his own life, but calmly turned to prayer. There was good reason why the title should have been affixed to the Psalm to note this circumstance, and David had good grounds for mentioning how he commended himself to God. Surrounded by the army of Saul, and hemmed in by destruction on every side, how was it possible for him to have spared so implacable an enemy, had he not been fortified against the strongest temptations by prayer? The repetition he uses indicates that he prayed with earnestness, so that he was impervious to every assault of temptation.

He tells us even more clearly in the next verse that he unburdened himself to God. To pour out one’s thoughts and recount one's afflictions is the opposite of those perplexing anxieties that people brood over inwardly to their own distress—anxieties by which they torture themselves and are chafed by their afflictions, rather than being led to God. It is also the opposite of those frantic exclamations uttered by others who find no comfort in the superintending providence and care of God. In short, we are left to infer that while he did not give way before others to loud and senseless lamentations, nor did he allow himself to be tormented with inward and suppressed cares, he instead made known his griefs with trusting confidence to the Lord.