Psalm 143--My Soul Thirsts for You

Psalm 143
English Standard Version

My Soul Thirsts for You
A Psalm of David.
143 Hear my prayer, O LORD;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous before you.

3 For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.

5 I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

7 Answer me quickly, O LORD!
    My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!

11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
    In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
    and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
    for I am your servant.

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We are back now to David crying out to the LORD to hear his prayer.  This time though, it sounds like David knows that he is a sinner that deserves judgment.  He prays to the LORD to forget his sin, not judge him, and hear his prayers while he simultaneously prays for the LORD to remember the sin of his enemies, judge them for their wickedness both in this life and the life to come, and that God would not hear their prayers (would not forgive them or bless them).  This sounds pretty hypocritical, but I'd say that it's very transparent and we should come to God this way and maybe through our conversations with Him, He will help us to pray for our enemies in a different way.

David is more than physically tired from his time of hiding and being on the run.  It has taken its toll on him physically for sure, but it has also affected him in more emotional and phycological ways, and he's ready for it to all come to an end.  He feels like he can't take it anymore and God needs to step in once again the strengthen and refresh him so that he can endure and be faithful to the end, not giving up hope or faith.  David's soul cries out to the LORD for refreshment like the dry, parched desert lands of the wilderness where he is hiding out would cry out for rain if they could.

David may sound like he's being melodramatic here, but David is depressed to the point of feeling that if God doesn't intervene, death is looking like a pretty good alternative to what he's going through.  I wouldn't go to the point of necessarily saying that he's suicidal, but he's at the point where he's looked at his life and evaluated that if this is all there is, that he'd rather be dead and be in Paradise than keep living a life like this.  (If David is on the run from Saul here, he has not had the Davidic Covenant made to him yet and does not have those promises or that hope to hang onto.  All he has is the fact that Samuel anointed David to be the next king over Israel, but David is waiting for the LORD to take care of Saul and clear the way for David to be king).

David needs to be reminded of the LORD's steadfast covenant love for His people and for David personally.  Only that will keep David's feet on the right path and help his soul to be lifted up from the despair and depression that he is facing.  Even if the circumstances don't change, how we feel in the midst of them changes when we remember God's covenant love for His people in general, and how that specifically applies to us as individuals (though we should have a God-centered theology and not a man-centered and especially not a me-centered theology.  That said, in times of crisis like this, God comforts us in personal ways by reminding us of promises like, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.")

David is no longer talking about fleeing to caves for refuge but fleeing to the LORD for refuge.  The LORD Himself is David's sure defense that will keep David safe until all the LORD has promised to David is accomplished.  David then prays something that we all should pray, "Teach me to do Your will," and "Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground."  These two requests are both simple and profound and sum up much of what we should pray for.

1) Teach me how to do right, since my heart is inclined or bent towards evil
2) Do not lead me into temptation, but deliver me from evil (and the evil one)

Through his prayer, David's focus shifts off of his circumstances onto what is important here--God's Name and reputation.  God will deliver David and do everything that He has promised because God's Name is on the line here.  God does not make promises that He doesn't intend to keep.  David just needs to rest in the covenant love that God has for Him and trust the LORD to take care of Him until the LORD decides that everything that He has planned for David's life has been accomplished.  Because David is sure that he will not be cut off from the LORD and His love, that means that David's physical and spiritual enemies will have to be the ones that are cut off in this life and in life everlasting that follows this life.  David is sure of it, because He knows the God who promised it and He is a promise-keeping God.