A prayer of the Righteous One, when feeling the heat of the weary land 

This may have been written at the same time as the two previous psalms. Again, David mentions that his spirit is overwhelmed, and his only recourse was to remember, meditate and consequently stretch forth his hands to God. There was a soul-thirst that only God could meet. 

His urgency is especially noted by his supplications in vv. 7-11, hear me; cause me; deliver me; hide me; teach me; lead me and quicken me. When trouble becomes personal, then one’s prayer gets very personal. The grounds of David’s prayer rested not in any qualification in himself, but even though he be king, he saw that he was but the Lord’s servant: a role of submission and service. So also our Lord was God’s servant, whom He upheld, and His elect in whom He delighted.

-Pastor Jeff O’ Neil

Recommended Tune: Need

Psalm 143 – Second Version

¹Oh, hear my prayer, LORD,
And unto my desire
To bow thine ear accord,
I humbly thee require;

And, in thy faithfulness,
Unto me answer make,
And, in thy righteousness,
Upon me pity take.

²In judgment enter not
With me thy servant poor;
For why, this well I wot,
No sinner can endure

The sight of thee, O God:
If thou his deeds shalt try,
He dare make none abode
Himself to justify.

³Behold, the cruel foe
Me persecutes with spite,
My soul to overthrow:
Yea, he my life down quite

Unto the ground hath smote,
And made me dwell full low
In darkness, as forgot,
Or men dead long ago.

⁴Therefore my sp’rit much vex’d,
O’erwhelm’d is me within;
My heart right sore perplex’d
And desolate hath been.

⁵Yet I do call to mind
What ancient days record,
Thy works of ev’ry kind
I think upon, O Lord.

⁶Lo, I do stretch my hands
To thee, my help alone;
For thou well understands
All my complaint and moan:

My thirsting soul desires,
And longeth after thee,
As thirsty ground requires
With rain refresh’d to be.

⁷LORD, let my pray’r prevail,
To answer it make speed;
For, lo, my sp’rit doth fail:
Hide not thy face in need;

Lest I be like to those
That do in darkness sit,
Or him that downward goes
Into the dreadful pit.

⁸Because I trust in thee,
O Lord, cause me to hear
Thy loving-kindness free,
When morning doth appear:

Cause me to know the way
Wherein my path should be;
For why, my soul on high
I do lift up to thee.

⁹From my fierce enemy
In safety do me guide,
Because I flee to thee,
LORD, that thou may’st me hide.

¹⁰My God alone art thou,
Teach me thy righteousness:
Thy Sp’rit’s good, lead me to
The land of uprightness.

¹¹O LORD, for thy name’s sake,
Be pleas’d to quicken me;
And, for thy truth, forth take
My soul from misery.

¹²And of thy grace destroy
My foes, and put to shame
All who my soul annoy;
For I thy servant am.