Biblion Bible Commentary
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Teach Me to Do Your Will
Psalms 143:1-12
1 A Psalm by David. Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me. · WEB
The last of the penitential psalms, and it opens by asking God not to hold a trial.
Hear my prayer, Yahweh... In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me Psalms 143:1.
Don't enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous Psalms 143:2.
The request is that the case not be heard, and the reason given is that there is no defense. Paul quotes the second clause twice in the argument that nobody is justified by the law Romans 3:20 Galatians 2:16, and the psalm reaches the conclusion first: no man living, without exception, and the writer includes himself in the phrase your servant.
He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead Psalms 143:3.
I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands Psalms 143:5.
The method of the seventy-seventh psalm, and the same three verbs — remember, meditate, contemplate. When the present supplies nothing, the past is examined deliberately.
I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land Psalms 143:6.
Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk Psalms 143:8.
Two requests, and both are causatives: cause me to hear, cause me to know. He is not asking to be told something but to be made able to take it in, which is a different admission.
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness Psalms 143:10.
The psalm's center. Not teach me your will — teach me to do it, which is the harder request and the one that acknowledges where the difficulty actually lies. And the ground offered is not his sincerity but the goodness of the Spirit doing the leading.
Revive me, Yahweh, for your name's sake Psalms 143:11.
The appeal of a man who opened by admitting he has no case: everything is asked on the name rather than on the record.
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