Psalms 143

Psalms 143:1

Psalm 143: The Wide Spectrum of PrayerIt is amazing how many different subjects and moods can be touched in a Psalm of twelve verses. Here we have: 143:1 General request for audience. “Hear . . . give ear . . . answer.” There is no poverty of expression but rather emphatic diversity. David asks God to answer him in His faithfulness (to His promises) and in His righteousness (i.e., because it is right for Him to defend His defenseless servant). 143:2 Penitence. He does not want God to give him justice. That would be disastrous. All are sinners. No one is able to produce by himself the perfect righteousness that God demands. So man must cast himself on the grace of God. When we come to Him as undeserving penitents, acknowledging our sins and accepting Christ as our Savior from sin, then God imputes His own righteousness to us, and in Christ we are made fit for heaven. 143:3 Acute crisis. The situation is grim. The enemy has been pursuing him relentlessly. He feels as if he has been pummeled to the ground. His tormentors have forced him to live in isolation, darkness, and hiding, cut off and forgotten like ancient corpses in the tombs. 143:4 Desperation. He fears that he can’t take much more. His spirit is ready to give up, and his heart is numb. 143:5 Reminiscence. He thinks back to the days when God worked mighty deliverances for him, and also for the nation of Israel. Where are those times now? 143:6 Fervency. The sincerity and ardor of his prayer is indicated by his hands pleadingly spread out toward God. Intensity. He longs for God, like parched, weary ground thirsts for the refreshing rain. 143:7 Urgency. The LORD must hurry to his rescue or he is sure he won’t survive much longer. Request for favor. The hiding of God’s face, either in anger or disinterest, would be tantamount to death. 143:8 Plea for lovingkindness. He longs to hear God speak soon to him in words and tones of steadfast love. “. . . In the morning” means early or without delay. Prayer for guidance. Someone has said that this is a verse that everyone could take as a life motto, “Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You.” Divine guidance is indispensable. We simply do not know the way, or what would be best for ourselves. Only the God-directed life is effective and enjoyable. 143:9 Petition for deliverance. The threat of his enemies causes David to cry to the Lord for rescue and relief. He has not depended on anyone else for protectiononly on the LORD, and this singleness of trust now forms the basis of his entreaty. 143:10 Appeal for instruction. The psalmist not only wanted to know the will of God (v. 8b), he also wanted a heart trained to obey that will. God, after all, was his God, and what could be more proper than for the creature to obey his Creator? Prayer for a level path. Everyone has his ups and downs in life, but not everyone has as rocky a road as David. His desire here is that the Lord’s good Spirit will lead him over smoother terrain, free from the extreme forms of danger and disaster to which he had been exposed. 143:11 Plea for preservation. In linking his own continued preservation with the glory of God (“For Your name’s sake”), the psalmist employs one of the strongest levers to move the hand and heart of Omnipotence. In the same way he pleads the righteousness of God as the reason why he should be delivered from trouble. This is powerful prayer. 143:12 Retribution on enemies. Finally he asks that God search out and destroy his enemies as a display of His mercy. If these thingsdestruction and mercysound irreconcilable to us, we should remember that: the destruction of the wicked is a favor to the universe; just as the arrest and punishment of a robber is a mercy to society, to mankind, just as every prison is a display of mercy as well as justice: mercy to society at large; justice to the offenders. David’s last appeal is based on the fact that he is Jehovah’s servant. He is on the Lord’s side. He is serving the Lord. Only through the removal of his foes does he feel he can continue.