Psalms 143:1-12 - Homilies By C. Short

A complaint and a prayer.

This the last of the penitential psalms. The authorship and occasion of it uncertain. Pervaded by a deep tone of sorrow and anguish and a deep sense of sin. Roughly divided, the first part ( Psalms 143:1-6 ) contains the complaint ; and the second ( Psalms 143:7-12 ), the prayer founded on that complaint.

I. THE COMPLAINT .

1. His enemies overwhelmed with a sense of desolation . ( Psalms 143:3 , Psalms 143:4 .) "His life was smitten down;" he dwelt as in the darkness of death; his heart was desolate. No friend was left; no protection from the cruel injustice of men. He was as if forsaken of God. All this was the means of revealing the sinfulness and misery of his own heart.

2. The contrast between his past and present experience . ( Psalms 143:5 .) This embittered his anguish and added to the sense of his desolation.

3. He stands as one imploring help . ( Psalms 143:6 .) But to whom, as yet, help has not come. As parched land thirsts for rain, so he pants for the help of God.

II. THE PRAYER . The petitions in Psalms 143:7-12 may be thus grouped:

1. Prayer for speedy loving-kindness and direction . ( Psalms 143:7 , Psalms 143:8 .)

2. For deliverance from enemies and fuller knowledge of God ' s will . ( Psalms 143:9 , Psalms 143:10 .) And for power to obey that will when thus made known.

3. For new life and deliverance from the sufferings caused by his enemies . ( Psalms 143:11 , Psalms 143:12 .) A new internal and external life—a complete change.

4. The ground of the several petitions is the personal relation of the psalmist to God . "Thou art my God;" "In thee have I trusted;" "I am thy servant;" etc. Man is God's child. These the strongest appeals that could be made.—S.