Psalm 142

I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
    people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
    no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”
Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.

• Psalm 142:1-7

Type of Psalm

Psalms of Affliction: Psalms where the psalmist is crying out in pain or distress, asking God where He is in the psalmist’s time of need.  But no matter how dire the circumstances or how long the lament, there seems to always be a word of praise.  Otherwise, why do we go to God in such times, other than to recognize Him as the only one who can help us?

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterwards penned in this form. Here is, I. The complaint he makes to God (ver. 1, 2) of the subtlety, strength, and malice, of his enemies (ver. 3, 6), and the coldness and indifference of his friends, ver. 4. II. The comfort he takes in God that he knew his case (ver. 3) and was his refuge, ver. 5. III. His expectation from God that he would hear and deliver him, ver. 6, 7. IV His expectation from the righteous that they would join with him in praises, ver. 7. Those that are troubled in mind, body, or estate, may, in singing this psalm (if they sing it in some measure with David’s spirit), both warrant his complaints and fetch in his comforts.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 142:4-7 “David asks for God to free him from the prison of his circumstances. Notice the purpose for this request: so that I can praise your name. It means David longs for deliverance in part so that he would have another reason to worship. He concludes with confidence that God would deal generously with him. As a result, the righteous [would] gather around him (142:7). Through divine intervention, then, the man who was alone (142:4) would be alone no longer.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

The notes at the beginning of the psalm speaks of David hiding in a cave.  He did that a couple of times fleeing from Saul, but there may have been many more.

He is hard pressed, but He knows God is faithful in staying by his side.

This psalm of David is a prayer.  He is calling for God to once again be his refuge and strength.

Once God has delivered him, the righteous will rally around him.

Psalm 143

Lord, hear my prayer,
    listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
    come to my relief.
Do not bring your servant into judgment,
    for no one living is righteous before you.
The enemy pursues me,
    he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
    like those long dead.
So my spirit grows faint within me;
    my heart within me is dismayed.
I remember the days of long ago;
    I meditate on all your works
    and consider what your hands have done.
I spread out my hands to you;
    I thirst for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, Lord;
    my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
    or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life.
Rescue me from my enemies, Lord,
    for I hide myself in you.
Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
    lead me on level ground.
For your name’s sake, Lord, preserve my life;
    in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
    destroy all my foes,
    for I am your servant.

• Psalm 143:1-12

Type of Psalm

Psalms of Affliction: Psalms where the psalmist is crying out in pain or distress, asking God where He is in the psalmist’s time of need.  But no matter how dire the circumstances or how long the lament, there seems to always be a word of praise.  Otherwise, why do we go to God in such times, other than to recognize Him as the only one who can help us?

Imprecatory psalms: Asking for vengeance against enemies.  From the two examples above, these requests for vengeance are usually not specific in how God does it.  I have written about this type of psalm or prayer in that they are legitimate requests to God.  We know that God will eventually stamp out all evil in the world.  Praying that God would do as He promises that He will eventually do is legitimate, but when a face is applied to that evil, our first reaction should be one of forgiveness and mercy.

Penitential psalms:  Penitential psalms relate to penitence, but more specifically confession.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm, as those before, is a prayer of David, and full of complaints of the great distress and danger he was in, probably when Saul persecuted him. He did not only pray in that affliction, but he prayed very much and very often, not the same over again, but new thoughts. In this psalm, I. He complains of his troubles, through the oppression of his enemies (ver. 3) and the weakness of his spirit under it, which was ready to sink notwithstanding the likely course he took to support himself, ver. 4, 5. II. He prays, and prays earnestly (ver. 6), 1. That God would hear him, ver. 1-7. 2. That he would not deal with him according to his sins, ver. 2. 3. That he would not hide his face from him (ver. 7), but manifest his favour to him, ver. 8. 4. That he would guide and direct him in the way of his duty (ver. 8, 10) and quicken him in it, ver. 11. 5. That he would deliver him out of his troubles, ver. 9, 11. 6. That he would in due time reckon with his persecutors, ver. 12. We may more easily accommodate this psalm to ourselves, in the singing of it, because most of the petitions in it are for spiritual blessings (which we all need at all times), mercy and grace.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 143:1, 4 “’Answer me speedily, O LORD; my spirit fails!’ Mercy has wings to its heels when misery is in extremity. God will not fail when our spirit fails; rather, He will hasten His course and come to us on the wings of the wind. ‘Do not hide Your face from me, lest l be like those who go down into the pit.’ Communion with God is so dear to true hearts that the withdrawal of it makes people feel as though they are ready to die and perish utterly. God’s withdrawals reduce the heart to despair and take away all strength from the mind. Moreover, His absence enables adversaries to work their will without restraint, and thus, in a second way, the persecuted one is likely to perish. If we have God’s countenance, we live, but if He turns His back upon us, we die. When the Lord looks with favor upon our efforts, we prosper, but if He refuses to countenance them, we labor in vain.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

David starts out this psalm of affliction by saying that he is not perfect.  No one is perfect.  But God’s love is perfect and David needs God to come to the rescue again.

God will rescue him, but David even gives a timeline, by tomorrow morning, God’s love will be obvious in the rescue of David, God’s servant.

David uses an often used argument that with Israel as God’s people and David as the king, a king who obviously loves God, then it is for God’s glory that God comes to the rescue.

If you are trying to trick God into the rescue, God would see thought it in a heartbeat.  But David, for the most part, was above reproach.  He had a few “issues” in his life, but he went to God in confession.  He repented of his sins, and he almost always went to God for advice before entering a new challenge of life.

David wants his enemies to be silenced.

And in the ultimate victory, God would get the glory.

Psalm 144

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
    who trains my hands for war,
    my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
    my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues peoples under me.
Lord, what are human beings that you care for them,
    mere mortals that you think of them?
They are like a breath;
    their days are like a fleeting shadow.
Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
    touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
    shoot your arrows and rout them.
Reach down your hand from on high;
    deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
    from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
    whose right hands are deceitful.
I will sing a new song to you, my God;
    on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
    who delivers his servant David.
From the deadly sword deliver me;
    rescue me from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
    whose right hands are deceitful.
Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
    carved to adorn a palace.
Our barns will be filled
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
    our oxen will draw heavy loads.
There will be no breaching of walls,
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.
Blessed is the people of whom this is true;
    blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

• Psalm 144:1-15

Type of Psalm

Imprecatory psalms: Asking for vengeance against enemies.  From the two examples above, these requests for vengeance are usually not specific in how God does it.  I have written about this type of psalm or prayer in that they are legitimate requests to God.  We know that God will eventually stamp out all evil in the world.  Praying that God would do as He promises that He will eventually do is legitimate, but when a face is applied to that evil, our first reaction should be one of forgiveness and mercy.

Intercessional psalms:  These are psalms where the psalmist intercedes with God for others.

Psalms of thanksgiving for God’s mercies to individuals:  Giving God thanks as noted.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“The four preceding psalms seem to have been penned by David before his accession to the crown, when he was persecuted by Saul; this seems to have been penned afterwards, when he was still in trouble (for there is no condition in this world privileged with an exemption from trouble), the neighbouring nations molesting him and giving him disturbance, especially the Philistines, 2 Sam. 5:17. In this psalm, I. He acknowledges, with triumph and thankfulness, the great goodness of God to him in advancing him to the government , ver. 1-4. II. He prays to God to help him against the enemies who threatened him, ver. 5-8, 11. III. He rejoices in the assurance of victory over them, ver. 9, 10. IV. He prays for the prosperity of his own kingdom, and pleases himself with the hopes of it, ver. 12-15. In singing this psalm we may give God the glory of our spiritual privileges and advancements, and fetch in help from him against our spiritual enemies; we may pray for the prosperity of our souls, of our families, and of our land; and, in the opinion of some of the Jewish writers, we may refer the psalm to the Messiah and his kingdom.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 144:1-2 “’Blessed be the LORD my Rock … my lovingkindness and my fortress.’ Whoever we may be and wherever we may be, we need mercy such as can be found only in the infinite God. It is all of mercy that He is any of the other good things to us, so that this is a highly comprehensive title. O how truly has the Lord been merciful to many of us in a thousand ways! He is goodness itself, and He has been unbounded goodness to us. We have no good-ness of our own, but the Lord has become goodness to us. So is He Himself also our ‘fortress’ and safe abode; in Him we dwell as behind impregnable ramparts and immovable bastions. We cannot be driven out or starved out, for our fortress is prepared for a siege; it is stored with abundance of food, and a well of living water is within it. Kings usually think much of their fenced cities, but King David relies upon his God, who is more to him than for-tresses could have been.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

God is praised as He is David’s stronghold, fortress, shield, rock, and deliverer.  God is even David’s fingers in battle.  This indicates that God knows the minutia of each of us, the little things that come together to make a whole.

Why does God care for mere mortals?  We are so weak, so flawed.

Then David calls on the Lord for a major weather event to rout the enemy before him.  That way the enemy is routed without the need for battle and the ultimate cost of war being the lives of people that David holds dear.

Then David says that he will sing a new song.  He sings of the sword of God who will vanquish David’s enemies.

And then his sons and daughters can flourish.  The crops will grow.  The barns will be full and the sheep will multiply into the thousands.

David paints a beautiful picture of peace.

And he praises God for that peace.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Psalm 142

“1. Are there complaints you keep from God? Feelings you consider inappropriate to bring up? Do you feel the group is a safe place to speak your true feelings? Or only the positive ones?
“2. Is the Lord your portion? Or are you seeking an earthly inheritance? Both? Where do you want to be?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 143

“1. Is mankind all that bad? Are people really ‘sinful’ or just ignorant? Irrational? Who made us this way, anyway?
“2. When you experience calamity, can you direct your thoughts to God and keep from becoming despondent? What do you focus on?
“3. Do you consider yourself teachable? When did you last change your mind on an important matter?
“4. When’s the last time you felt you were walking on ‘level ground’? Are you usually climbing upwards or going ‘downhill’?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 144

“1. Do you think a country has to be strongly defended in order to enjoy safety and peace? Do you train your hands for war or endorse others to do so? Under what conditions would you go to battle?
“2. Why do you think God cares about we short-lived ‘shadows’? Do you ever feel so small as to be in significant to God?
“3. Does humility lead you to greater confidence before God? When do you feel most confident? Least? Can the group help?
“4. Do you see yourself as a fighter, well-nurtured plant or carved pillar? What one blessing would you seek for yourself?
“5. Are Christians the only ‘people whose God is the Lord’? Who can expect God’s favor today?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for each of these psalms.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.