Psalm 143
A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
The first verse echoes the opening of the previous three psalms, particularly Psalms 141-142. The reference to parched land in verse 6 suggests that this was composed while David was fleeing from Saul. He can be confident that his prayer will be answered because of the nature of God - his faithfulness and justice/goodness/righteousness (yes, those are all rolled up in that one word!). Speaking of God’s righteousness reminds David of his own unrighteousness. Even though he was a pretty good guy (especially at this point in his life where there is no mention of him sinning yet), he knows that he is guilty, so he asks that he might escape the judgment of God, the Righteous One. In fact, of all the people alive, none are righteous, particularly when they are standing next to the blazing holiness of God. Verse 2 sounds very Pauline, very Romans 3. As much as David was a man of integrity, and in spite of the fact that he was in the right in comparison to those who were persecuting him, he was still deeply aware of his own sin. David’s pleas for mercy were not just related to his present circumstances as he was running for his life, they also seem to have something to do with his soul. It’s likely that he’s questioning his righteousness because he is being persecuted. Afterall, why would God allow this to happen to his anointed? He must have done something to deserve it. We interpret difficulties as the judgment of God because we are keenly, intuitively aware of our guilt. We do deserve some kind of punishment and we know it, and so we think that maybe our difficult circumstances are God’s punishment.
3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
In three lines, the psalmist describes the actions of his enemy and their impact on his life. The use of the singular indicates that his enemy was a single individual, although that could be a personification representing all of the forces against him. The reference to “pursue” suggests the seasons where David was pursued by Saul and the later by Absalom, but the former is more likely. David is on the run and it is soul crushing. To be rootless, insecure, dependent -- all of these ate away at him as this civil war with the house of Saul went on for seven years. The
“sitting in darkness” may refer to the time that David was hiding in caves, on the edge, wondering if his refuge would become a trap. He felt that he might as well have been dead because this was no life, always looking over his shoulder, hiding in caves, going to sleep with the possibility of waking up with a knife at your throat. The effect on his spirit is to be “overwhelmed”. This is the same word that is used in the previous psalm in verse 3, “my spirit is overwhelmed” and in Psalm 61:2. “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. It’s a common phrase in the Psalms, (77:3; 102:1; 107:5) and it is a universal experience. We’ve all felt overwhelmed, pressed down by circumstances beyond our control, unable to pick ourselves up. The parallel line that follows references the ruined state of the heart. The word “appalled” is translated elsewhere as “desolate, ruined”, recalling the ancient towns in Israel that had been abandoned for centuries, now ghost towns and piles of rubble. David’s heart is a shell, a vapor, empty and lifeless like the uninhabited ruins of a formerly life-filled city. He is at his end. In this way he represents each of us at the lowest moments of our lives.
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
David looks up from the ground where he lies crushed and begins to have a change of heart. It begins with remembering the “days of old”, reflecting on God’s past faithfulness and interventions in his life. There are four actions stated: I remember, I meditate, I ponder, I stretch out my hands (a posture of prayer). The three lines of verse five contain a two line chiasm. “I meditate (ha-gah) on all your works, on the work of your hands I muse (se-ach),” using both of the Hebrew words for meditation. Chewing and musing about what God’s hands have done for him in the past, David looks at his own hands and lifts them to YHWH. In lifting his hands he acknowledges his dependence on God, enacting the action that he wishes God would take, “Pick me up!” The action of lifting his hands mirrors the lifting of his soul (vs. 8). His soul is thirsty. Compare this to Psalm 63 for several similarities (setting, actions, mood). David is dying inside, drying up from the harsh environment, and he is crying out for refreshment. That begins to happen when he looks back and remembers who God is and what he has done. Confidence begins to build as he turns those things over in his mind and once more becomes convinced of the reality of God’s handiwork in his life. David had written of God’s handiwork in the skies (Psalm 8) and his handiwork in the womb (Psalm 139), and now he reflects on God’s handwork in the course of his life. He is not alone. He never has been and never will be. God is the constant in his life while enemies and trials come and go. When you’re crushed, lying on the parched ground after life has knocked you down, remember who God is, recall how he has worked in your life, and reach up to him again for help.
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
The psalmist’s pondering turns again to praying, expressing his urgency in what appears to be a life threatening situation. His spirit (ruah) is failing, and if YHWH doesn’t act quickly, he will die. “Those who go down to the pit” is a euphemism for the dead. The psalmist hopes to hear of God’s steadfast love, his hesed, when he awakes. He hopes that a new day will bring deliverance from his struggle. This may be an evening prayer, as the worries of the day have piled up all around him and he is wrestling to sleep. He is also in a situation where his next course of action isn’t clear, asking, “cause me to know the way I should go.” Serious decision-making is often accompanied by doubt. It’s impossible to know all the outcomes of our decision and there are always factors beyond our control. The best we can do is what the psalmist does here, lift up our souls to God and ask for clarity from him. David has already stretched out his hands in prayer (vs. 6), and now he lifts up his soul, offering himself, his total obedience to whatever the LORD has for him. It is an action of surrendering prayer, of expressing complete dependence on YHWH and an abandonment of self-saving approaches to the crisis he is in. He can sleep well tonight because he has placed his soul in God’s hands.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge. [One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts To you I have covered]
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
David needs both deliverance (vs. 9) and direction (vs. 10). Through faith, he has covered himself in God’s protection, and this he believes is sufficient to protect him from his enemies. He used another word for covering in vs. 4, describing his spirit as being “faint”, or “overwhelmed”, elsewhere translated as “covered”. Rather than the weight of his dire situation crushing him, David is experiencing the covering of God’s protection, between himself and the weight that he has been bearing. The mighty hand of God has David in his grasp (Psalm 139:10), and this is a shield around him, a refuge from the weight of the world and the immediate threat he is facing. His prayer for direction is two-fold. First, “teach me to do your will for you are my God” (accent on the “you” in Hebrew). The word “will” means “favor, that which pleases”, indicating that David’s desire is simply to please God by obeying his revealed word. There’s an easy answer to the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” It is to obey his word and conform your thinking and worldview to that which is revealed in scripture. That is enough. All else will fall into place if we focus on that one thing, meditating on the Torah and striving to align our thoughts and actions with its commands. Second, in addition to the Word of God, David desires to be led by the Spirit of God. David references the Spirit of God in Psalm 51:11 and 139:7 as a “presence” in his life. That presence has a voice according to Isaiah 30:21, where the prophet writes, “and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” That Spirit is good, and it leads us to walk on level ground, not some contorted path that is shaped by emotion, but one that is based on natural law, reality, the way that things really are. Other translations speak of this as the ground of uprightness. It is simply doing what is right because that is what we were designed by our Creator to do. Doing otherwise is a failure of purpose, a missing of the mark. In the midst of his crisis, David prays that he will be able to do the right thing (not necessarily the easy thing or the popular thing). May we have such courage as well -- to stay true to the Word of God and be led by the Spirit of Go into uprightness.
11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.
David continues his requests, praying for salvation for his soul (vs. 11) and for justice upon his enemies (vs. 12). The basis of his appeal is the reputation and character of YHWH. If God doesn’t rescue him, others will question the power and goodness of God. If David is God’s chosen king, then God should protect him for the sake of his own reputation. God should also save him because God is righteous, just, and fair. David has been unjustly attacked, chased across the country by a madman whom God has rejected as king. The right thing would be for God to step in and bring an end to this travesty of justice. That leads to David’s final request in verse 12 that God, in his steadfast love (hesed), his covenant loyalty, would cut off David’s enemies and destroy the adversaries of his soul (life). It is an imprecation, a curse upon his enemies rooted in the justice of God. All good people wish that justice would be done. Our gut reaction to crime and criminals is to seek retribution. Someone must pay, someone must be made to understand the consequences of their sin. This is at the heart of David’s prayer. It doesn’t want harm to come to his enemies out of personal hatred, but out of a sense of justice. The guilty should pay. Sinners should learn so that they might not sin anymore. The world would be a better place if the guilty were punished so that they might learn to become innocent. David’s desire is to simply be God’s servant. Although he is king, and is appealing to God on the basis of God’s covenant promises to him as king, in his heart and mind, he understands that he is a servant of God, the ultimate king. At the end of day, we are unworthy servants. Even as we call for God to bring down justice on evildoers and lawbreakers, we recognize that “there but by the grace of God, go I.” And so our prayers for justice are mingled with mercy. “Cut off our enemies, destroy the adversaries of our soul,” but redeem them if they are willing. The good news is that in Christ, the “adversary of our soul”, the devil, the accuser, has been humiliated and crippled already.