A Cry From Help

INTRO

While all three of these psalms are psalms of David, we’re going to walk through Psalm 143. At some point in his life, David journaled about his situation. This psalm he wrote is considered one of the penitential psalms because he was on his knees, penitent before the Lord.

TEACHING

Psalm 1431-6: David began by asking God to hear his prayer. According to Warren Wiersbe, when you pray, you have to “tell God your situation.”¹ This was David’s seventh and final, “I’m sorry,” psalm, but he didn’t actually come out and say, “I’m sorry.” David began by calling on God’s faithfulness and righteousness even as he prayed, “Lord, hear my prayer” (v. 1). David came to God with the mentality that God answers prayer because of His faithfulness and righteousness. God is a loving Father who wants to take care of His kids (Matthew 7:11). We too can come to God with confidence because we know Him and His character through reading His Word.

David then asked God not to judge him because “no one alive is righteous in Your sight” (v. 2). This phrase seems to indicate David had messed up, but so had everyone else. According to John MacArthur, “David admits his own unrighteousness and realizes that if he is to be delivered for the sake of righteousness, it will be because of God’s righteousness, not his own.”² But Nelson’s Commentary points out that David didn’t say he was sorry for what he had done.³ David’s statement that no one is perfect is supported by other Scripture verses. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Isaiah 64:6 says that we are all unclean before the Lord.

David said the enemy had pursued and crushed him so that he lived in darkness. According to Nelson’s Commentary, “The biblical metaphor of light and darkness begins in Genesis 1:2–3. To live in darkness is similar to being in the pit (v. 3).”⁴ David’s spirit was weak, and he was overcome with dismay (v. 4). David said he had nothing left—he had no hope.

But David remembered “the days of old” and meditated on all God had done (v. 5). David combatted his season of darkness by thinking about everything God had done. David “spread out” his hands to God (v. 6), indicating his complete surrender to Him. When you go through a dry season, you have got to talk to the Lord. According to MacArthur, “As a drought-struck land yearns for life-giving water, so persecuted David longs for his life-giving deliverer.”⁵ In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). If you long to experience more of God, He promises He will fill you up. In order for the parched body to be filled, you have to tell God your situation and ask for Him to answer. Looking back at verse 5, David held on to what he knew about God. We can also look back at everything God has done: “the creation, the call of Abraham, the pilgrimage of Jacob, and the life of Joseph, the exodus from Egypt, and the conquest of Canaan.”⁶

David reflected and meditated on what God had done. How do you reflect on something? Do you write it down and look at it? Journal it? Draw it? Do whatever brings it forth so that you can think on it. What do you need to do to develop the mentality of giving everything to the Lord? First Peter 5:7 says to cast “all your care on Him, because He cares about you.”

Psalm 143:7–12: We tell God about our situations and ask Him to answer us. According to Wiersbe, we then “wait for the answer in expectation.”⁷ David asked God to answer him quickly because his spirit was failing (v. 7a). We need God to answer us now because we don’t know if we have the capacity, the perseverance, and the steadfastness to keep going. David then got a little extreme by saying if God hid His face, he would “be like those going down to the Pit” (v. 7b). Without God’s answer, David said he would feel as though he was dying. Wiersbe pointed out that David wanted the same answers we want today.⁸ He wanted to see God’s face (v. 7). He wanted to hear God’s Word (v. 8). He wanted the blessing of God’s protection (v. 9). In his prayer life,

David was very specific in what he asked from God. He wanted to know God’s will (v. 10). David wanted to see God face toface, hear His voice, receive His protection, and know His will. Finally, David wanted to bring glory to God’s great name (vv. 11–12). David was in a hard spot, and yet he modeled for us how to talk to the Lord. He cried out to God, admitting he had messed up in some way.

When we’re in a tough spot, maybe it’s depression, but maybe it’s just a funk—a spiritual dry spell—or a season of loneliness, what should we do? Betsy de Cruz did a study on how to move from the funk to faith in God again; from the pit of despair to the fear of God. She offered ten things:

1. Let go of the guilt that you’re in that place of depression (Psalm 42:5).
2. Reach out to tell someone (James 5:16 describes the process of asking people to pray for you).
3. Get professional help. Or seek counsel and wisdom from others (Proverbs 11:14).
4. Draw close to God and get real with Him (Psalm 34:18).
5. Cling to the Word of God (Psalm 23; Romans 5:1–8; 1 John 4:9–10).
6. Start your personal joy project. Do something that brings you joy.
7. Help someone else. Do something to take eyes off yourself and love somebody else.
8. Tune into worship (Psalm 59:16–17). Let the words of God minister to you through music.
9. Do something creative. It gives you the liberty to mess up as you express yourself.
10. Keep your perspective. Psalm 30:5b: “Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.”⁹

CLOSING

If you are in a funk and you begin to walk through this process, joy is coming in the morning. That’s what I love about David— he always kept his eyes on God regardless of where he was.