Daily Meditations

Psalm 143:7 Identifying with the dead! This is a troubling verse! If our spirits fail, does that mean that we are about to die? This outcome was certainly in David’s mind and, as we have noted, it was not just the oppression of His enemies and the impending certainty of being killed that brought David so low, he was isolated and lonely, riddled by fear and without hope. The man who had been anointed, some years before, to be the future King of Israel saw all his hopes and ambitions crashing down around him and it’s likely that he thought he had failed himself, His family, his friends and his nation, even his God! Once again, we must take note that when there was nowhere else to turn, David cast himself on the mercy of the Lord and begs Him to not turn away and to not make Himself unapproachable or unreachable The final phrase of Psalm 143:7 is chilling! It throws further light on how the ancient Jews saw their fate beyond death. We know that they believed in Sheol, the place of all dep...

Psalm 143:6 Are we thirsty ..... for Him? This verse seems to take us to a different level, it is a reflection of the intimacy that existed between the fugitive King and His Lord. Firstly, David talks about spreading his hands, this gesture is usually indicative of prayer. Moses first uses it when He speaks to Pharaoh after the plague of hail that came upon Egypt,  “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord.”  Exodus 9:29. To spread our hands out seems to suggest that we have nothing to give and that we are vulnerable, but that we are imploring the Lord to hear and answer our pleas. Stretching out our hands also infers that we are waiting for them to be filled.  Many of us may have experienced the yearning to see someone we love dearly, and to hear their voice and see their face becomes a deep, deep longing. David has this longing, he calls it a thirst because nothing can quench it except the reality of the presence of the Lord. Of...

Psalm 143:5 Meditating on God's works Sometimes, when life is very dark, it does us good to stop and reflect, to remember the good times and to recall the events in our lives when there was joy, security and days of peace and contentment There is no doubt that David had experienced such times, as a young shepherd he must have had contented periods in his life, wandering across the hillsides and meadows with his flock. But his meditations go deeper, he chooses to muse over the beauty and wonder of God’s creation and to look for evidence of the presence of the Lord in all that has been made. Even if his personal situation lacks the input and stamp of God’s presence, the created world is a constant reminder that the Creator is at work and there is abundant evidence of His existence. As Paul puts it, when writing about the pagans,  “Since what may be known about God is plain to them, For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – ...

Psalm 143:4 The pit of despair Psalm 142:3 is repeated here, once again we are dealing with a man whose spirit grows faint within him. In addition, David admits to his heart being dismayed. We are all familiar with genuine weariness and tiredness when we’ve pushed ourselves to the limits and our bodies are aching and screaming “No more!”  The dilemma for David was that his inner being had also had enough. The will to carry on had deserted him, he had no desire to move on, the psychological battle had been lost, he could take no more, the constant waves of aggression and evil from his enemies had worn him down. David was at a very low ebb, He didn’t want this fight anymore, he was ready to lie down and give up, nothing in his being desired to keep battling on, he was riddled with fear and ready to die. He was crushed, broken and utterly defeated. Maybe some of us have been in this dark and lonely place, where all the will to continue with life has been wrenched from us, such a state...

Psalm 143:3 The enemy near relents Have we ever felt crushed by the activities of our enemies? Have we experienced what it is like to walk through the Valley of the shadow of death (darkness)? There are times when oppression and problems press in upon us and there simply seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. The world advises us to visit psychiatrists and counsellors or to take pills for depression, or to pursue mindfulness. But, as believers, we need to be aware that very often that darkness has spiritual causes and the enemy is all around us and loves nothing better than to plunge us into periods of despair and doubt, where we wonder if the Lord has deserted us. That seems to be how David felt as he penned this tragic Psalm. So much so that he believes himself to be in the company of the dead and completely cut off from the joys of the living! We need to be so aware that our spiritual enemy is the prince of darkness and death is His greatest weapon, his dwelling place is in ...

Psalm 143:2 No one is righteous If we are honest, when life starts getting out of control and our journey is very tough, be there problems with health, finance, relationships, work or even church, many of us stop and look hard at ourselves and ask if we are being disciplined or judged by the LORD. Having suffered with my own health in recent years I’ve had to ask the questions and ponder my own weaknesses and failings and it’s not always good enough to say, like David, “ Well no one living is righteous before You! ” That is true, of course, but it can be an excuse, if there are matters in our lives that need to be repented of and turned away from, then we need to do it before we can move on. David is right in that we are not righteous, nor can we claim to be better than anyone else. However, because God is righteous, He must accept the blood of Christ that washes away our sins and therefore pardon and forgive. So, we may plead with David,   “Do not bring your servant into judgement...

Psalm 143:1 Lord, hear my prayer There’s nothing in this Psalm to link it to the Cave of Adullum, as with Psalm 142. However, the sentiments are very similar and once again we join David at a time of deep travail when his enemies seem to be about to triumph over him and bring about his demise. David was one of the greatest kings of all time, especially in the context of the Bible, he triumphed over countless evil antagonists and faced many different crises in his life. It was his irreproachable faith in God that kept him alive and made him the greatest ever King of Israel. David was a man who was brought to the end of himself on many occasions and in this he learned to trust in the Lord completely and because of this, the Lord was able to use him and bless him. So, let’s go on one more tortured journey with this dear man and let us do so humbly, or we may miss the lessons that the Lord is trying to teach us.   V1 Once again David is pleading for the Lord’s attention to his prayers,...

Psalm 142:7 Negative and Positive Neg: This verse contains a dark image of the oppression that troubles bring and two potential outcomes of God’s deliverance. We will call them the negative and the positives. Firstly, the negatives, David is in prison from which he cannot free himself! The Cave of Adullum seems like a prison cell and the eyes of Saul’s men lurking outside are the jailors who are watching his every move. The walls of the cave are closing in and every day he feels oppressed and claustrophobic. How can David and his friends escape, when every exit is being watched and the forces beyond are overwhelming? Sometimes life feels like this, we are oppressed on every side, and our liberty and way of life seem to be under attack. It is particularly humiliating when there are other people hell-bent on restricting our freedom and intending to trap us whenever we lift our heads up. The enemy can set snares like this, the Satan is a master of such unjust trickery and weaves webs of d...

Psalm 142:6 I am in desperate need.  Oh dear, David really means it doesn’t he? This is not the heart cry of one who is a bit fearful and can’t quite wangle his way out of trouble. This is a man whose whole existence is under threat, who feels completely overwhelmed by the odds against him, who sees nothing but trouble and impending disaster around him. I think that David is not just addressing his circumstances though, the problems go much deeper, it seems that his whole life and being are in danger of being overwhelmed, he has a genuine fear of death and of being destroyed completely. His life is threatened, his future is threatened, his purpose is threatened, his trust in the Lord is growing weak, where can he find help? David does not us the phrase, “ Desperate need”  lightly, he is indeed desperate!  “Lord, listen to my cry!”  As we have seen before, he has no one else to turn to, his family and close supporters are not enough, they cannot help, only the Lord ca...

Psalm 142:5 You are my refuge There is a way of thinking, for many believers, that supports the view that our walk with the Lord should be a trouble-free existence, with all problems solved, all difficulties overcome, and all worries and anxieties common to man turned aside by faith. Some go further and dare to suggest that if we are overwhelmed by illness, financial woes, mental trials and the like, it is because we lack faith and are not trusting in the Lord as we should! In truth, the opposite is the case. The deeper we are prepared to go in our relationship with the Lord, the weaker we will be and the more we will need to learn dependence and faith in His power and strength, rather than our own. We sometimes sing, “Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy.” The words come out easily, but dare we really challenge the Lord to take us through the fire of refinement? Are our hearts really desiring to be holy? If they are, then we must go through trials and troubles, sometime...

Psalm142:4 No one cares about me! We’ve discussed, in earlier Psalms, the relevance of the right hand and what it means to have support and protection from a “right-hand man or woman.” Indeed Psalm 16:8, which was also written by David, tells us that it is even possible to have the Lord Himself at our right hand.  “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken .” The image here overlaps with the idea of a shield bearer who would stand to the right of a soldier and parry the sword thrusts or arrows that might come their way. To imagine that the Lord Himself will stand at our right hand and deflect the enemy’s attacks is mind-boggling. But He does! He defends His people. He sees the danger long before we do. He puts up defences in advance and very often the fiery darts of the evil one are deflected long before they arrive at their destination. We would never survive if we had to defend ourselves, we simply don’t see the attacks coming – but He doe...

Psalm 142:3 Faint hearts and faint spirits This verse reminds us of Psalm 22 and the heart cry of Yeshua as He faced the agony and separation of the cross.  “ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted   within me. My mouth   is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust   of death.”  David does not refer to his physical suffering, or his health, he was still a young man when these events unfolded. Yeshua too, was a young man when He suffered and died for us. It was their mental state that troubled them, our spirits grow faint when we lose the will to keep going, when the obstacles are so great and the odds are stacked in the opposition’s favour. Both David and Jesus knew that the way ahead was full of pain and suffering, both anticipated that it would end in death! Faint hearts are frightened hearts and so are faint spirits, we are at the point when...

Psalm 142:2 Pouring out our complaints. Many of those who believe in the living God can find prayer difficult. I am one of them. It is not always easy to approach a Being that cannot be seen, and to hold a conversation with One who does not speak! That would be the excuse of the majority of Christians, which is why so many use a Prayer Book or find comfort in allowing others to do the praying for them. We all know full well that God hears and that He answers but comparing conversations with Him to the ones we enjoy with each other, can be very difficult. The trouble is, there is no one more able, more authoritative and more merciful than our God and thus we have to bring our worries, anxieties and pleadings to Him at some point, simply as a way of relieving the burdens that life throws at us. Even when we do approach the Lord with a willing heart, it’s difficult to know how to voice our requests because we simply don’t know what He is thinking or even if we’ve grasped the full picture ...

Psalm142:1 A cry for mercy In many Bibles the introduction to this Psalm mentions that it was written when David was  “in the cave.”  We’ve referred before to the Cave of Adullam, a place of refuge for David and a small band of followers that he had gathered around him. David was still a relatively young man and had not yet taken hold of the reigns of leadership in Israel, at that time a country ruled over by King Saul.  We first encounter the Cave of Adullam in 1 Samuel 22. As David was fleeing from Saul, who was trying to kill him, he sought refuge among the Philistines in Gath (1 Samuel 21:10-14). Realizing, however, that this was not a safe place for him,  “David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him ” (1 Sameul 22:1-2)....

Psalm 141:10 Passing by in safety And so we come to the last verse of this challenging Psalm. We’ve gone from the Cave of Adullum to the Altar of Incense in the Temple, to the throne of God in heaven itself. We have followed David’s attempts to keep a watch over his words and to guard his heart from the lures of his enemies. He would prefer to be struck by his righteous friends rather than become like the wicked upon whom he has poured condemnation and judgement! We’ve ploughed a field with David and realised that death and life are all tied up in that simple analogy and that we are mortal and our bodies will return to the dust. So, we who believe must fix our eyes on our Creator and take refuge in Him so that the traps and nets of the enemy do not ensnare us.  The Psalm ends with one more heartfelt cry, if those who hate us and plot our downfall have been so meticulous in their scheming ways, then David’s plea is that their devious plots completely backfire and trap those who devi...

Psalm 141:9 Keep me safe! Throughout his Psalms David has a preoccupation with the enemy forces that are against him and the particular efforts of individuals to entrap him. As we have noted, a close scrutiny of his life and its conflicts, shows us that barely a day passed without there being plots and schemes to undermine his authority or to hinder his journey. As King, he was constantly under threat from everyone including close family, and then there were the schemes of the rulers of the nations. No wonder his cry is,  “Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers, from the snares they have laid for me .” David is not just aware of the traps, he knows that much of the time he is in mortal danger. It’s no different today when senior world leaders can only travel from place to place accompanied by hosts of security guards and elite marksmen. Too many Presidents, Prime Ministers and others have lost their lives because of the hatred and twisted mindsets of their enemies. David was ...

Psalm 141:8 My eyes are fixed on You! The previous verse of this Psalm might have left us feeling a bit desolate and afraid, for if the judgements of the Lord are to be experienced by all those who are wicked, how will any of us escape? Surely, all have sinned and fall short, are there any among us who do not break God’s laws and fail to meet to His standards of righteousness? Can we really point the finger at certain people and label them as wicked but consider ourselves to be good enough for salvation? It seems that David felt this tension and seeks to convince the Lord that his hope and trust are that He will watch over him and save him from the clutches of eternal separation and death.  There’s a difference between giving the Lord an occasional glance or a half hour per day and actually fixing our eyes on Him. Going back to the illustration of the plough (in verse 7), it is essential that a good ploughman keep his eyes fixed on an immoveable point when making the first furrow a...

Psalm 141:7 The inevitability of death Another powerful verse! This time “ploughing” is used as an allegory for the fate of all men and women. Once a field has been harvested and cleared of its season’s growth, the farmer moves in with his plough. In ancient times this would have been with oxen, or maybe horses if the landowner was wealthy enough. Modern farmers use tractors and heavy machinery of course. The resting earth would be turned over, and clods would be exposed where the ground had been hardened by the weather. At this point the field lies fallow awaiting seedtime once again. This verse sees humanity as those who enjoy a season of fruitfulness but once our time of harvest has passed, we die and are broken up by the rigours of death, our bones are waiting to be scattered at the mouth of the grave. We are like a ploughed field. Our lives will never be repeated, our fruitfulness cannot be reclaimed, our children may be our seed, but we no longer serve any purpose. Only Eve and h...

Psalm 141:6 Gos alone dispenses true justice David is, once again, fierce in his condemnation of the wicked. This verse, and verse 7 that follows, could effectively be a curse on the unrighteous, those who are the enemies of God and therefore our enemies too.  There are many in the Christian faith who call this present era in world history, the dispensation of grace. The time in which we live is seen by most followers of Jesus Christ to be an age when God withholds judgement, when all men and women are at liberty to choose to believe. This is the age of God’s mercy, patience and compassion for all men, and all are offered salvation to the moment of their very last breath. It sticks in the throat rather, to now consider the possibility that some men and women are intrinsically evil and that they are suitable for our condemnation and to become objects of our curses! Would that be the right thing to do for we do not know how they might feel tomorrow when troubles come, and they reach ...

Psalm 141:5 The rebuke of the righteous I love it! David is actually saying here that he would rather take a good punching from a friend who is righteous, than be drawn into the deceptions of the wicked! Imagine, someone close to us has noticed that we are being lured into a devious scheme or being enticed by a temptation and they come to see and call us out, and because we can’t see it they literally knock some sense into us! Not many Christians I know would take that kind of treatment on the chin, but the righteous man or woman who confronted us would actually be doing us a favour. David is right, their rebuke is a kindness. How often have we deferred passing judgement on another believer or used soothing words rather than a direct rebuke, just to avoid confrontation? The problem is, that most people don’t want to be rebuked, and they quickly refuse our advice and our judgement of their behaviour. It’s a strong man or woman who will listen, take the advice and change their ways. Howe...