Faithful Righteousness, Judgment, and Loving Mercy

Psalms 143:1-12
A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
And in Your righteousness.

2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no one living is righteous.

3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in darkness,
Like those who have long been dead.

4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart within me is distressed.

5 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I muse on the work of Your hands.

6 I spread out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You like a thirsty land.

Selah

7 Answer me speedily, O LORD;
My spirit fails!

Do not hide Your face from me,
Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.

8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.

9 Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
In You I take shelter.

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, O LORD, for Your name's sake!
For Your righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.

12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies,
And destroy all those who afflict my soul;
For I am Your servant.

This is a song about God’s faithful righteousness, our due judgment, and His loving kindness of merciful grace.  It is about the leading of God and our following in trust.  It sings out about the Lord’s deliverance to glorify His name, not ours.  Yes, it is also about defeating our enemies because we serve Him.  The psalm opens with a cry for God to hear us as David pleaded for us.  The answering could only be according to His faithfulness to keep the promises and covenants He initiated with His chosen and called people, and in His own righteousness which we all lack in ourselves.  This is God’s holy reliable character and promises recorded in His word in which such prayers rely, for both the psalmist’s and us as God’s chosen people in Christ.  It is the basis for all our prayers.  Like the king, we also acknowledge in our confessions that there is none righteous, not even one single person ever (Romans 3:10), and plead with His mercy to not be judged (Romans 3:23-24, 26).  We are also overwhelmed by our enemies at times as King David often was, sometimes in such a state they it seems we are enveloped in the darkness of hopelessness.  That is when we follow the scripture’s example here in recalling God’s faithfulness and deliverance found in the pages of His word written to us, as well as all He has done in creation and the sustaining of all things, the works of His mighty hands.  This brings us hope and strength as we pray and long for Him as a desert desires rain to bring relief to our parched souls.  Selah.  Dwell on these things.  The second half of the psalm then asks for relief from God in the answers to prayer because we are so frail and fail in trusting as we should.  We do not want to feel as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), whose destination is destruction; we need to know his face shines grace and help on us in times of need, a reminder of that truth from His word.  Therefore, we pray verse eight especially, asking each day to hear His loving kindness of grace and discover where He desires us to walk out our lives along the way.  Why and how?  We lift up our lives to Him!  We entrust all as living sacrifices by dying with His Anointed and living with Him by following in a willing obedience, one which yearns to be conformed to Christ as we are changed each day (2 Corinthians 3:18).  We ask also to be delivered from the evil one and those engaged with him as our enemies, and take our shelter in our Lord and Savior.  Yes, we beg to be taught by God (Hebrews 5:14, John 6:45) that we might better do His will in place of our own corrupted one, for He alone is good (Mark 10:18) and God.  We therefore ask in prayer to be led by God, to be revived when we fail, and to be delivered out of trouble for His glory.  This means praying for the defeat of our enemies as well, for they do not serve our Lord; we are His servants whom He watches over and sustains for His name’s sake.  This is his faithfulness, righteousness, judgment, and loving mercy of His great grace in which we stand (Romans 5:2).  Amen.