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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Psa_143:1-2. Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
That is, of course, apart from the wondrous system of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, whereby believers are made the righteousness of God in him. Apart from that righteousness, no man living can be justified in the sight of God.
Psa_143:3-4. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
Are any of you passing through this trying experience? If so, does it not encourage you to find that somebody else has been this way before you? The road is very rough, but there is a man’s footprint there, the footprint of a man whom God greatly loved, even the man after God’s own heart? Ah, dear friends, in those deep sorrows of yours, you are not alone; David has passed this way before you; and, what is better still, David’s Lord has traversed this rough road. In all our afflictions he was afflicted, he was tempted in all points like as we are, so he can most perfectly sympathize with us in all the troubles through which we are called to pass.
Psa_143:5-6. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
One of the things which God’s people are in the habit of doing, when they are in deep trouble, is to look back upon their past experience. You may have seen the bargemen on the canal push backwards that they may propel the barge forwards; and, sometimes, we who believe in Jesus Christ have to push backwards, — to look back on our past experience in order to derive fresh courage for the present hour of trial. So the psalmist says, “I remember the days of old, I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” Yet in David’s day of distress, when he had meditated upon his experiences in the past, that did not satisfy him. He wanted his God, therefore he cried unto the Lord, “I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.” When the fields have been long dry, because there has been no rain, you see how the earth opens its mouth in great cracks as if it gaped for the rain it so sorely needs, and David’s soul seemed thus gaping with a strong desire after the living God: “My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.”
Psa_143:7-8. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
This is a beautiful prayer, which any one of you might present to the Lord: “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk.” You are perplexed as to what you ought to do, you wish to do that which is right, but you are not sure what is right. Yet God can cause you to know the way wherein you should walk; he leadeth the blind by a way that they know not, and in paths which they have not seen. So breathe this prayer to him in the hour of your perplexity, —
“
Pilgrim through this barren land:
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand!”
Psa_143:9-10. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will;
This is another most blessed prayer: “Teach me to do thy will.” Most of us want to have our own will, and to go our own way; but each one who is truly wise prays to the Lord, “Teach me to do thy will.”
Psa_143:10-11. For thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
What earnest pleading is this, and how powerful it is! Every word is so fitting that, if I had time to explain it, you would note the force and appropriateness of every syllable that the psalmist here uses.
Psa_143:12. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
Psa_143:1-3. Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
This is a very graphic description of David’s sorrow; and those who have ever come under the power of Satan so as to be crushed in spirit, and see all their hopes blighted and withered, know what David meant when he penned these words. Only think of a soul dwelling in darkness like a body that has been long dead, and shut up in the grave.
Psa_143:4. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
What a sad expression that is! It would be difficult to bring out all its meaning: “My heart within me is desolate;” — lonely, deserted, desponding, despairing, almost destroyed.
Psa_143:5. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
This is a gracious exercise, which tends greatly to the comfort of mourners; yet it does not always succeed, for God’s works cannot satisfy us, if God hides himself from us.
Psa_143:6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
“My soul seems scarcely such a living thing as a thirsty stag panting for the cooling stream; but, as the parched earth, that cannot call to thee, and yet doth gape with open mouth as if she silently implored the rain, so is it with me.” God sends the dew to the grass which cannot call to him for it; then how much more will he send the dew of his grace to us who do cry to him for it, and with anguish thirst after it!
Psa_143:7-8. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
What a dead “lift” it is sometimes! Yet we must not let our soul lie in the gutter. By God’s help, we must lift it up; and the nearer the soul is lifted up to God, the more it comes into the light, and the more sure it is yet to obtain its liberty.
Psa_143:9-10. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good;
“Make my spirit good!”
Psa_143:10-11. Lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake:
Do not these prayers fit you, my brothers and sisters? Do you not feel as if you were being taught how to pray by the reading of this Psalm? I think it must be so at least with some of you.
Psa_143:11-12. For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
We cannot join in the prayers in this verse just as it stands, for we live in another dispensation, in which we are taught to pray for our enemies, not against them; but as far as this verse relates to our spiritual enemies our sins, and temptations, and Satanic foes, we do pray that they may be utterly out off, and that the very name of them may be blotted out from under heaven. May God hear that prayer, and answer it, for his dear Son’s sake! Amen.
A psalm of David.”
Psa_143:1. Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
It is a theory held by some persons of skeptical minds that the only benefit of prayer is the good it does to us. That was not David’s theory. Here, three times, he begs to be heard, and to be answered. Oh! do they think us such idiots that we would go on speaking in a keyhole with nobody to hear us? Do they think us brought so low — so destitute of wit — that we think it worth our while to speak out what is in our heart if God does not hear and does not answer? I reckon prayer to be the most idiotic of all occupations unless there be really a God to hear, and a God to answer. And the benefit of prayer is not in itself so much as in the full confidence that it is a real thing, and an effective thing — that God does hear and does interpose on our behalf.
Psa_143:2. And enter not into judgment with thy servant:
“Thy servant I am. I am not one of the ungodly, whom thou wilt judge and cast away, but still even thy servant though I am, enter not into judgment with me. I know thou wilt not judge me now as a rebel, and condemn me, for thou hast put away my sin, but even as thy servant I fear thy chastising rod, if thou enter into judgment with me.”
Psa_143:2. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
I have heard some living that think they would. They have said that the very root and branch of sin have been cut up in them, and that they walk in the fear of God perfectly well, but times must have changed very wonderfully. Ah! but I think they have not, but that these are mistaken, for still it is very true concerning the very best of men that they have need to pray, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.”
Psa_143:3-4 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
Children of God, do not expect to be always happy, or else you will be disappointed. You will have more troubles, if nobody else does. Depend upon it, that adversity is one of the covenant promises. “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” is your Master’s own word to you, and you must not expect to find it untrue. You will find it true to the letter. And sometimes the troubles of life will penetrate even to your heart, and make you feel desolate. When you are so, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial as though yours were a new path in which nobody ever walked before you. Ah! no; David was there. Many others have been there.
Psa_143:5-6. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
As a child puts out its hand to its mother, so did he stretch out his hands to his God. As a thirsty land chaps — becomes dry — turns to dust in its longing after rain, so did his whole being thirst for his God.
Psa_143:7. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
“Lest I swoon away — lest I die — lest my hope should utterly expire. Come, Lord: come, Lord, and rescue me.”
Psa_143:8. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
Very heavy, but I lift it up. With all my might, as though it were a dead lift, I seek to raise it out of its doubt, and out of its sorrow.
Psa_143:9-10. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will; for thy art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
Or “lead me in a straight path.” So it is rendered by the best scholars.
Psa_143:11. Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake:
Felt as if he should die, and, therefore, he says, “Quicken me: put new life into me.” To whom should we go for life, but to the living God, and who can communicate with us, but the same God who first made us live in his name.
Psa_143:11-12. For thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
This exposition consisted of readings from PSALM 142. and 143.