The Cry of a Covenant Slave Text: Psalm 143:7-12
Introduction: Prayer in the Pit
We come this morning to a psalm that is raw, urgent, and unflinching. This is not a prayer from the comfort of a padded pew after a pleasant week. This is a prayer from the pit. David is in profound distress, his spirit is wasting away, and his enemies are closing in. He is at the end of his rope, and the only thing left to hang on to is God Himself. This is one of the seven penitential psalms, but it is also a psalm of a man under extreme duress from external enemies. This combination is crucial. David understands that his own sin makes him vulnerable, but he also knows that his enemies are not God's appointed rod of chastisement. They are wicked men, and he appeals to God on the basis of God's own righteousness to act.
In our therapeutic age, we are often uncomfortable with this kind of prayer. We prefer our psalms to be serene and our prayers to be polite. We want to talk about God's love, but not His covenant loyalty that cuts down His enemies. We want to talk about guidance, but not about the desperate need for deliverance from those who assail our souls. We want a God who leads us on level ground, but we don't want to think about the alternative, which is the pit of destruction.
But the psalter is God's inspired prayer book, and it teaches us to be honest. It teaches us to bring our desperation, our fear, and our demands for justice to the throne of grace. This is not unbelief; it is the highest form of faith. It is the faith that takes God at His Word and holds Him to His promises. David is not whining; he is arguing. He is making a covenantal case. He is reminding God of who God is, and of who David is in relation to God. And in these final verses of Psalm 143, we see a master class in how a man of God prays when everything is coming apart at the seams.
He cries for a swift answer, for morning mercy, for clear guidance, for deliverance, for instruction, for revival, and for the destruction of his enemies. And all of it is grounded not in his own merit, but in the character of God, the name of God, the righteousness of God, and the lovingkindness of God. This is how a Christian learns to pray in the midst of the battle.
The Text
7 Answer me quickly, O Yahweh, my spirit wastes away; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.
8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Yahweh, I have concealed myself in You.
10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11 For the sake of Your name, O Yahweh, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of distress.
12 And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies And cause all those who assail my soul to perish, For I am Your slave.
(Psalm 143:7-12 LSB)
Desperate Urgency (v. 7)
The prayer begins with a cry for speed. This is not a man who can afford to wait.
"Answer me quickly, O Yahweh, my spirit wastes away; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will become like those who go down to the pit." (Psalm 143:7)
David is at his limit. "My spirit wastes away." This is the end of his personal resources. There is nothing left in the tank. When a man is in this condition, he needs God to act now. This is not the impertinence of a spoiled child. This is the desperation of a drowning man. He is not demanding that God conform to his timetable out of arrogance, but rather pleading on the basis of his utter weakness. It is not unbelief to pray this way; it is unbelief not to.
The greatest fear is not the enemy, but the hidden face of God. "Do not hide Your face from me." For a covenant man, the presence of God is life itself. His absence, the hiding of His face, is a foretaste of death. The ultimate catastrophe is to "become like those who go down to the pit." The pit is Sheol, the grave, the place of the dead. David is saying that without a swift intervention from God, he is a dead man. His spiritual, emotional, and physical life are all on the brink. This is the cry of a man who knows that life is found only in the favor of God. To be without God is to be, for all practical purposes, already in the grave.
Morning Mercies and a Lifted Soul (v. 8)
From the desperate plea for life, David moves to a specific request for the morning.
"Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul." (Psalm 143:8)
The night is a time of darkness, fear, and trouble. The morning represents a new beginning, the arrival of God's help. David asks to "hear" God's lovingkindness. The Hebrew word is hesed, that rich term of covenant loyalty, steadfast love, and mercy. He doesn't just want to know about it abstractly; he needs to hear it spoken to his soul. He needs a word from God that reaffirms the covenant relationship. This is a prayer for assurance, for a tangible sense of God's favor to break upon him like the dawn.
And notice the basis for this request: "For I trust in You." This is not a bargain. It is the logic of the covenant. "I am holding up my end, which is to trust. Now, Lord, I plead with you to hold up your end, which is to be trustworthy." His trust is not a meritorious work; it is the empty hand that receives God's grace. Because he is trusting, he is in a position to be guided. "Cause me to know the way in which I should walk." This is not a prayer for abstract wisdom, but for practical, step-by-step direction out of his current crisis. When you don't know what to do next, the only sane thing to do is lift your soul to God. "For to You I lift up my soul." This is an act of total surrender and dependence. He is handing the controls over to God. My life, my will, my future, I place them in Your hands. Direct me.
A Secret Hiding Place (v. 9)
The prayer for guidance is immediately followed by a prayer for protection.
"Deliver me from my enemies, O Yahweh, I have concealed myself in You." (Psalm 143:9)
The logic is beautiful. "Lord, deliver me from my enemies, because I have already fled to you for safety." The phrase "I have concealed myself in You" can also be translated "to You I flee for refuge." He has, by faith, already run into the strong tower of God's name. He has hidden himself in the secret place of the Most High. Now he is asking God to make that spiritual reality a physical one. He is asking God to be the fortress that he has already trusted Him to be. This is how faith works. We first take our stand on the reality of God's promises by faith, and then we ask Him to act in the world according to those promises. We don't wait for the deliverance to trust; we trust, and therefore we can boldly ask for the deliverance.
The Prayer of a Student and a Son (v. 10)
David's desire is not just for escape, but for obedience. He wants to be a faithful servant of his God.
"Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground." (Psalm 143:10)
This is the heart of a true disciple. In the midst of chaos and danger, his central desire is to please God. "Teach me to do Your will." He recognizes that he doesn't know how to do this on his own. He needs divine instruction. The reason is simple and profound: "For You are my God." This is the declaration of allegiance that undergirds everything. Because You are my God, my highest desire is to do Your will. This is the essence of the covenant relationship.
And how is this to be accomplished? "Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground." David knows he cannot walk this path alone. He needs the direct, personal guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the agent who applies God's will to our hearts and lives. And the path he desires is "level ground." This is a plea for a straightforward, obstacle-free path of obedience. It is a prayer to be kept from the treacherous, uneven ground of temptation, confusion, and sin. He wants to walk a plain path, a righteous path, where the will of God is clear and his feet do not stumble.
For the Glory of the Name (v. 11-12)
The psalm concludes with a powerful appeal to God's character and a shocking request that reveals the logic of covenant justice.
"For the sake of Your name, O Yahweh, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of distress. And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies And cause all those who assail my soul to perish, For I am Your slave." (Psalm 143:11-12)
This is the ultimate basis for all our prayers: "For the sake of Your name." David is not primarily concerned with his own comfort or safety, but with the reputation and glory of God. He is saying, "Lord, my deliverance will bring glory to You. My death at the hands of these wicked men will bring dishonor to Your name, because I am Your representative." Therefore, "revive me." Bring me back to life. And do it "in Your righteousness." David is asking God to act justly. God's righteousness is not just about punishing sin; it is about keeping His covenant promises. It would be unrighteous for God to abandon His servant to the wicked. So David appeals to God's own righteous character as the basis for his deliverance.
And this leads directly to the imprecation in the final verse. "In Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies." This sounds jarring to our modern, sentimental ears. But it is perfectly logical within the covenant. David is not asking for personal revenge. He is asking for covenant justice. His enemies are God's enemies. They are assailing the soul of God's anointed. And on what basis does he ask this? "For I am Your slave."
The word is slave, or servant. It is a declaration of total ownership. "I belong to you, Lord. These men are attacking Your property. They are vandalizing what is Yours." A good master protects his slaves. A good king defends his subjects. Because David is God's slave, he has a right to appeal for God's protection. And that protection, in a world of violent and unrepentant evil, necessarily means the destruction of those who have set themselves against God and His anointed. God's hesed, His covenant love for His own, is the very attribute that requires Him to cut off those who would destroy them. His love is not a soft, universal benevolence. It is a fierce, loyal, and protective love. And this is our great comfort. The same lovingkindness that saves us is the lovingkindness that will ultimately destroy all that threatens us. We are His slaves, bought with the price of Christ's blood, and He will not abandon His own.