Psalm 143:12

Psalm 143 is a psalm of David, and it is the last of the seven psalms traditionally counted as the Penitential Psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143), prayers of sorrow for sin and pleas for mercy. Near its start David prays, “enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psalm 143:2). His enemy has crushed his life to the ground and made him dwell in darkness like those long dead, so that his spirit is overwhelmed and his heart desolate (Psalm 143:3–4). He remembers God’s works of old (Psalm 143:5) and stretches out his hands to God, thirsting for him like a dry land (Psalm 143:6). From verse 7 on, the prayer becomes a run of urgent requests.

The psalm leaves its occasion unnamed. It fits the years when Saul hunted David through the wilderness (1 Samuel 23), or the rebellion of his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15–18), and because it is tied to no one event, any servant of God in deep trouble can pray it as his own. It belongs with laments such as Psalm 42, Psalm 77 and Psalm 88, which speak honestly of anguish and still turn to God as the one who can rescue.

Verse 7 is a cry for help in a hurry. The verb behind “hear me”, ʻânâh, means to answer or respond, so David is asking God to reply to his cry, and soon. He calls on God by his covenant name, Yᵉhôvâh, which the KJV prints as “the LORD”, the name he uses again in verses 9 and 11. Other laments plead with the same urgency, as in “O LORD, heal me” (Psalm 6:2).

His reason is “my spirit faileth”. Kâlâh means to end, cease, be finished, be consumed or perish, and rûwach, spirit, is the word for wind, breath and spirit. His inner strength is used up, like breath at its end, worn down by the distress of verses 3 and 4. Elsewhere a psalmist puts the same weariness as a question to his own soul: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” (Psalm 42:5, 42:11).

Then he prays, “hide not thy face from me.” The word for face, pânîym, is plural in form and always used as a singular, and its senses of front and presence grow out of the face itself. For God to hide his face (çâthar pânîym) means the withdrawal of his favour, protection and help, and in Israel that was felt as the worst of losses, a sign of his displeasure. David knew it from experience: “thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled” (Psalm 30:7). He prays the same request in another psalm, “Hide not thy face far from me” (Psalm 27:9). The opposite is the blessing the priests spoke over Israel: “The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee” (Numbers 6:25). God’s face turned toward his people is their life and blessing, and David asks to keep it.

In verse 8 David asks to hear of God’s lovingkindness because he trusts in him, and to know the way he should walk because he lifts up his soul to him. Lovingkindness is cheçed, God’s loyal and steadfast love toward his people, the kindness by which he keeps his covenant with them. David wants to hear it, which means a word or a sign from God that this love is still at work for him, and he wants it when the day begins, after the darkness he has been living in.

The morning, bôqer, was a natural time for that. It brings a fresh start after the night, and it was one of the set times of Israel’s daily offering. Lamentations says of the LORD’s compassions, “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23). David asks for that new mercy and for the strength to meet the day before its troubles and decisions arrive.

“For in thee do I trust” gives the ground of the request. David has put his whole weight on God, on his character and his power to deliver and guide.

“Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk” is a plea for direction. Yâdaʻ is to know, and in the form used here it means to make known, to show or instruct. Derek, the way, is a road or path, and from that a whole course of life and the conduct that fills it. David is asking which way to take in his present danger and how to live, and for a king, knowing God’s way also meant ruling his people rightly. Another psalm of David asks the same: “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4–5). Proverbs promises it to the one who trusts the LORD with all his heart and leans on God’s understanding: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).

“For I lift up my soul unto thee” means turning the whole self toward God in longing and dependence. David pours out his thoughts, desires and very life before God in prayer, with his hope fixed on him alone.

“Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies” uses nâtsal, which Strong’s gives as to snatch away, and so to rescue or deliver. The one delivered is the object of the verb, “me”, and the danger he is taken from is marked by “from”: “from mine enemies”. The word for enemies, ʼôyêb, is the participle of the verb to be hostile, the ordinary Hebrew word for a foe, one who hates. For David these were real men who wanted him dead, whether Saul, Absalom or hostile nations.

“I flee unto thee to hide me.” When Saul hunted him, David hid in caves, strongholds and the wilderness. Here the place he runs to is God himself, and the running is deliberate, toward a refuge he knows. The word for hide, kâçâh, means to cover or conceal, and the picture is of a man covered over by God where his pursuers cannot reach him. English has the word “hide” in verse 7 as well, though the Hebrew word there is a different one. In verse 7 David prays “hide not thy face from me”, and in verse 9 he runs to God to be hidden.

The Psalms and the prophets speak of God this way again and again. “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer” (Psalm 18:2). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress” (Psalm 91:2). “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble” (Nahum 1:7). And “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). The plea for rescue and the flight to God belong together, because God rescues the one who runs to him.

David’s enemies were flesh and blood. Believers also face enemies of another kind, for “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers” (Ephesians 6:12), and there are the temptations of the flesh, the pressure of a fallen world and afflictions that press hard on the soul. The same refuge stands open against all of them.

In verse 10 David asks to be taught the doing of God’s will, so he is asking to be made able and willing to obey. Lâmad is the verb. Strong’s gives the root’s proper sense as “to goad”, and in use it means to learn, or, in the form used here, to teach, instruct and train, causing another to learn. David knows he needs God’s help both to know his will and to carry it out, and he asks to be trained in obedience. Moses had called Israel to “walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you” (Deuteronomy 5:33), and this prayer asks God himself to make that walk possible.

“For thou art my God” is the reason he gives. The LORD is his own God, his master and protector, and that bond gives David the right and the confidence to ask.

“Thy spirit is good” uses rûwach again, the same word as “my spirit faileth” in verse 7. David’s own spirit is spent, and God’s Spirit is good. That goodness means God’s leading can be trusted, because it always goes toward what is right and toward the good of the one he leads. The New Testament shows the Holy Spirit doing exactly this work. Jesus promised that the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, “shall teach you all things” (John 14:26) and that the Spirit of truth “will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13), and Paul writes, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

“Lead me into the land of uprightness” asks for a place to walk. Mîyshôwr comes from a root meaning to be straight, and it means a level place or plain, and figuratively straightness, justice and equity. The land of uprightness, ʼerets mîyshôwr, is level ground where a man can walk straight, a picture of a life of integrity lived by God’s righteous standards. To an Israelite it would also call to mind the land God gave his people, where they were to live by his righteous laws. David prays the same hope that Psalm 23 sings: “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).

Verse 11 asks for life. To quicken is châyâh, to live, to keep alive, to revive or restore to life. David’s spirit is near its end, and he asks God to make him live again, with strength renewed in every part of him. Psalm 119 prays in the same words: “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word” (Psalm 119:25), and “quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness” (Psalm 119:159). God’s power to give life where there is none is shown in Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37).

David asks this “for thy name’s sake”. God’s name, shêm, stands for all he has made known of himself, his character, his reputation and his authority. To ask God to act for his name’s sake is to ask him to act in a way that shows who he is, his power, faithfulness and justice, before his people and the nations. God says in Ezekiel that he acts for his holy name’s sake (Ezekiel 36:22), and in Isaiah, “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it” (Isaiah 48:11). Psalm 23:3 says the same of the paths God leads his sheep in.

“For thy righteousness’ sake” rests the prayer on God’s tsᵉdâqâh, from a root meaning to be just or right. It is his rightness and justice, and his faithfulness to do what he has promised, which includes defending the oppressed and delivering those who trust in him. “Deliver me in thy righteousness,” David prays elsewhere (Psalm 31:1).

“Bring my soul out of trouble” asks for rescue from tsârâh, distress and anguish, the narrow place that hems him in. The soul is nephesh, which means a breathing creature, life, soul, self or person, so David is asking God to bring his whole life out of that tight place.

David earlier confessed that no man living is justified in God’s sight, and here he grounds his plea in God’s name and righteousness, his character and his promises. God set his love on Israel because he loved them and kept the oath he had sworn, for he is “the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy” (Deuteronomy 7:7–9). David’s deliverance, when it comes, will show who God is.

The psalm ends with a plea for God to deal with David’s enemies, and it rests that plea on “thy mercy”. The word is cheçed, the same word as “lovingkindness” in verse 8. The steadfast love David asked to hear in the morning is the love he now asks to act for him. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 103:8).

“Cut off” is tsâmath, to extirpate, to cut off or destroy. “Destroy” is ʼâbad, which Strong’s gives as properly to wander away or lose oneself, and so to perish, and in its causative sense to destroy. “Them that afflict my soul” uses tsârar, to cramp, distress or vex, and nephesh again, the same word as “my soul” in verse 11. These are the people who squeeze the life out of him, and ʼôyêb, the word for enemies in verse 9, stands here as well. David asks God to bring their oppression to a full end by his own power. Another psalm of David asks the same: “Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God” (Psalm 3:7).

“For I am thy servant” is the last word of the psalm. ʻEbed means a servant or bondman, someone who belongs wholly to his master, and in Israel a master bore responsibility for the welfare and protection of his servant. David claims that bond. He is God’s, loyal to him and dependent on him, and God defends what is his, as he defended his people at the Red Sea (Exodus 14). The same words appear in another psalm: “O LORD, truly I am thy servant” (Psalm 116:16).

Each part of this prayer finds its fullest answer in Jesus. David feared the hidden face of God, and Jesus went into that darkness himself. In Gethsemane he said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38), and on the cross he cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Bearing the sin of his people, he knew the separation from God that the pit stands for, so that those who are his will be kept from it. He descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended far above all heavens (Ephesians 4:9–10), and to those in him God says, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

David longed to hear of God’s lovingkindness, and in Jesus it is seen, for the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). David asked to know the way, and Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Our trust rests in him, “for in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), and through him we come boldly unto the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

David fled to God to hide, and Christ is the Deliverer who comes out of Sion (Romans 11:26). Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and set free those who all their lifetime were held in bondage by the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14–15). His invitation stands open: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

David asked to be taught to do God’s will, and Jesus did that will perfectly. “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work,” he said (John 4:34), and Hebrews gives his words on coming into the world: “Lo, I come … to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7). In him believers are made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). The good Spirit he sends works in them, so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:4), and they are conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29).

David asked to be quickened, and Paul writes, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Jesus is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), who glorified the Father on the earth and finished the work he was given (John 17:4). At the cross God declared his righteousness, “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:25–26). The last Adam “was made a quickening spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45), and whoever hears his word and believes “is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

David pleaded as God’s servant, and Jesus is the Servant of the LORD of Isaiah 53, who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and at the cross he spoiled principalities and powers and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15). God’s mercy is richest in him, for God, “who is rich in mercy”, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4–5). Believers are now servants to God (Romans 6:22), waiting for the day when “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26).

These verses give words to anyone whose strength has run out. David brings everything to God at once, his fear of death, his need of guidance, his enemies, his want of life and his longing to do God’s will, and he speaks of all of it plainly and in haste. God receives prayers like this, and he has kept this one in Scripture for his people to pray after David.

They also show us who God is. His face turned toward us is life. His lovingkindness meets his people in the morning. He is a hiding place for those who run to him, his Spirit is good and leads onto level ground, and he gives life for his name’s sake and acts in righteousness and mercy for those who belong to him. Every reason David gives for being heard lies in God himself, and those reasons hold for everyone who is God’s servant in Christ.