Psalm 143:1

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, and the prayers arise from yet another desperate situation when survival depends completely on the Lord’s mercy. It is when the lowly and the weak cry out to God that heaven appears to answer. I’m afraid that the requests of the proud and arrogant go unheard and unheeded in the corridors of heaven, if we think we know best or that the Lord God is like some kind of variety store where we can “pick and mix” what we want, then it’s little surprise that our cries go unanswered. Notice that David refers to himself as a servant in verse 2. 

There are two aspects of God’s character here that the lowly may appeal to: His faithfulness and righteousness. Of course, God is faithful, but sometimes we struggle to comprehend that He will show His faithfulness to us, ordinary human beings. He will because He is righteous. We have been bought by the blood of the Lamb of God’s sacrifice and that makes us His children and therefore His righteousness demands that He supports and upholds us. V11-12 elaborate on this. Hallelujah! He hears my prayer and listens to my cry for mercy. 

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