Psalms 143:1-19. 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.
Psalms 143:3-19. 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.
Psalms 143:5-19. 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.»
Psalms 143:7-19. 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,
«Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land:
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand!»
Or say with David, «Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee.» He seems to say, «My soul is like a dead weight which cannot lift itself up; but in the strength which thou dost impart to me, I lift it up, I will not let it lie like a dead log before thee: ‘I lift up my soul unto thee.'»
Psalms 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.»
Psalms 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.
Psalms 143:12. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.