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Psalms 143
The last of the seven traditional penitential psalms. David, hunted and crushed "to the ground" (v.3), opens not by protesting innocence but by conceding that "no man living is righteous" before God (v.2), then asks to be heard on the ground of God's faithfulness instead. Watch how memory becomes a tool here: in verse 5 he deliberately recalls "the days of old" and God's past works to steady a spirit that is fainting. The closing petitions turn outward, asking to be taught God's will and led on level ground.
- 1
Hear my prayer, LORD. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.
- 2
Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
- 3
For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
- 4
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
- 5
I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
- 6
I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.
- 7
Hurry to answer me, LORD. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- 8
Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.
- 9
Deliver me, LORD, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.
- 10
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
- 11
Revive me, LORD, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
- 12
In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.
From rescue to instruction
The prayer shifts from physical danger to inner formation. After begging for deliverance from enemies, David asks something stranger for a fugitive: "Teach me to do your will" (v.10). Survival is not the final request; being led "in the land of uprightness" is.
This pairs the psalm's two halves: the morning longing to hear God's loving kindness (v.8) answers the night of feeling like "those who go down into the pit" (v.7).
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