Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 143.1 and following. Indeed, “Listen to my prayer…,” cries the faithful from the depths of his distress, “do not hide your face from me… answer me.” What a contrast between this anxiety and the peaceful assurance that can be the part of the Christian today! The latter is certain to always find access through Jesus to the Father (Hb 4:14-16). And yet the same intense desire for communion should animate him. “My soul, like an altered earth, thirsts for you” (verse 6; Ps 63:1-3). Yes, every day, first in the morning, I need to hear not only God’s Word, but His goodness, opening my heart to listen to it (verse 8). This feeling of the Lord’s love will strengthen the trust I have placed in Him and I will ask Him, first to let me know His way, and then to lead me there. Calling Him my God, calling myself “His servant” (verse 12), commits me to do what pleases Him.
But first He must teach me, and then His good Spirit must guide me into the “flattened land” (or: of righteousness) of His will (verse 10). In reality, these demands are related to each other. On the one hand, the Lord’s communion is necessary to know His will. But on the other hand we can only taste it in obedience to this will! The cry of the faithful in this psalm seems to follow quite naturally that of the previous psalm; indeed the supplicant was abandoned there of his friends, and here he is therefore in the midst of enemies. In its inspiration, as well as in its application, we interpret this psalm as the previous one.
The “earth”, where the afflicted walks painfully in the overwhelm of his spirit which realizes all the hostility of the wicked, is for him an “altered land”. While the land he seeks is adorned in his eyes with two magnificent titles: “the land of the living” and the “land of righteousness” (Ps. 142:6; 143:6, 10). These are the blessed and glorious names of God’s abode and kingdom in Judea, and so it will soon be. According to God’s estimation, justice (righteousness) and life always go hand in hand, like sin and death. “If a law had been given which had the power to sustain, justice would in reality be on the principle of the law” (Gal. 3:21).
Listen to my prayer, O Lord! It is obvious that the oppression of his enemies must have been extreme, when David complains about his case in such serious and pathetic terms. The introductory words show that the grief he felt was great. His reason for talking about God’s righteousness and faithfulness about, we have shown elsewhere. Under the term justice, or righteousness, we must not assume that he speaks of merit or hiring, as some imagine, but of that goodness of God that leads him to defend his people. In the same spirit, he speaks of the truth or faithfulness of God; for the best proof he can give of his faithfulness is not to abandon those he has promised to help. By helping his people, he shows himself a just and true God, both by not frustrating their expectation, and to the extent that he shows in this extension of mercy what his nature is, that David encourages himself very correctly in prayer by mentioning both.
Do not enter into judgment with your servant. I have already hinted at why he begins to pray for forgiveness. When they are overwhelmed by adversity, we must always conclude that it is a rod of correction sent by God to prompt us to pray. Although He is far from enjoying our trials, it is certain that our sins are the cause of His behavior toward us with this severity. While those to whom David was opposed were wicked men, and he was acutely aware of the rectitude of his cause toward them, he freely acknowledged his sin before God as a condemned supplicant. We must hold this as a general rule in seeking to reconcile God, whom we must pray for the forgiveness of our sins. If David found refuge nowhere but in prayer for forgiveness, who among us would claim to come before God trusting in his own righteousness and integrity?
David not only shows God’s people here how they should pray, but declares that there is no one among men who could be righteous before God if he were called to plead his cause. The passage is laden with many instructions, teaching us that God can only show us His favor in our efforts by discarding the character of judge and reconciling us with Himself in a gratuitous remission of our sins. All human justifications, therefore, go for nothing, when we come to his court. This is a truth universally recognized in words, but very few of which are seriously impressed. As there is an indulgence that extends mutually among men, they all come with confidence before God for judgment, as if it were as easy to satisfy it as to obtain man’s approval. In order to get a correct view of the whole question, we must first note what it means to be justified.
The passage before us clearly proves that the man who is justified, is the one who is judged and counted just before God, or that the heavenly judge himself acquits as innocent. Now, by denying that anyone among men can claim this innocence, David is implying that any righteousness that the saints have is not perfect enough to stand God’s scrutiny, and so he declares that all are guilty before God, and can only be absolved of how to recognize that they might be rightly condemned. If perfection had been something to be found in the world, he was certainly the man who could have rightly boasted of it among all the others; and the righteousness of Abraham and the Holy Fathers was not unknown to him; but he spares neither them nor himself, but posits it as the only universal rule of conciliation of God, which we must throw to his mercy.
This can give us an idea of the satanic craze that has gripped those who speak so much of perfection in holiness, with a view to replacing the remission of sins. Such a degree of pride could never be demonstrated by them, if they were not secretly influenced by a brutal contempt for God. They speak in lofty and magnificent terms of regeneration, as if the whole kingdom of Christ consisted of the purity of life. But by removing the main blessing of the eternal covenant – gratuitous reconciliation – which God’s people are charged with seeking every day, and by inflating themselves and others with vain pride, they show what spirit they are of. Let’s keep them in detestation, for they are scrupulous about not blaming God openly. That in itself, however, which we have declared, is not enough; for others themselves recognize that if God were to begin an examination of the lives of men as a judge, everything would be odious to righteous condemnation. And in this regard, they are healthier, more moderate and more sober than those heresy monsters we just talked about.
But without arrogating to themselves justice in all its extent, they show, ignoring their merits and satisfactions, that they are very far from following David’s example. They are always ready to acknowledge a flaw in their works, and so, seeking God’s favor, they plead for the help of His mercy. But there is nothing intermediate between these two things, which are represented in Scripture as opposites—being justified by faith and justified by works. It is absurd for them to invent a third kind of justice, which is partly produced by their own works, and partly imputed to them by God in his mercy. Undoubtedly, when he asserted that no man could stand before God if his works were brought to judgment, David had no idea of this complex or double justice, but immediately locked us in to the conclusion that God is sovereign.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Do not enter into judgment with me:
- Faithfulness of God
Dt 7:9 Know, therefore, that it is Jehovah, your God, who is God. This faithful God keeps his covenant and mercy until the thousandth generation towards those who love him and keep his commandments. Ps 36:6 Eternal, your goodness reaches to heaven, Your faithfulness to the clouds. Ps 89:2 I will always sing the goodness of the Lord; My mouth will make your faithfulness known forever. 1 Pet 4:19 Thus, let those who suffer according to God’s will surrender their souls to the faithful Creator, doing what is right.
- Self-justification, impossible
Ps 143:2 Do not enter into judgment with your servant! For no living person is right in front of you. Jer 2:22 Ez 14:14 When you wash yourself with nitre, When you use a lot of potash, Your iniquity would remain marked before me, says the Lord, the Lord. Rom 3:20 For no one shall be justified before him by the works of the law, since it is by the law that the knowledge of sin comes.
- Spiritual enemies
Ps 71:10 For my enemies speak of me, And those who watch my life consult each other, Ps 86:14 O God! proud people have risen up against me, A troop of violent men resent my life; They don’t carry their thoughts on you. Ps 94:21 They gather against the life of the righteous, and they condemn innocent blood. Ez 22:25 His prophets conspire in her womb; like roaring lions tearing apart their prey, they devour souls, they seize riches and precious things, they multiply widows in her midst.
- Servants of God, the saints so called
Acts 27:23 An angel of the God to whom I belong and serve appeared to me tonight, Rom 1:9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, testifies to me that I constantly mention you, 2 Tim 1:3 I give thanks to God, that my ancestors served, and that I serve with pure conscience, of what night and day I continually remember you in my prayers, James 1:1 , servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are in dispersion, salvation!
From all of the above, we note that this psalm suggests that although suffering for righteousness in the last days, the faithful of Israel will come to know their own ways, and will realize that before God they are only poor sinners. Although they beg to be delivered and avenged from man, they confess their sin to God, and express the desire to be led by His Spirit, without whom there is no holiness. What they seek is the land of righteousness, as well as the land of the living – to be kept in divine paths of righteousness, as well as pulled out of the place of death where they are now, and introduced into the kingdom of the living God. These are the blessed exercises that prepare them for the kingdom to which they are rushing —suffering for righteousness, and the realization of their unworthiness as sinners. And this is the path of every believer; humbled before God, his heart contrite in the awareness of his inadequacy, he stands in the full freedom of Christ, and walks among men on a path of justice where he knows suffering. The faithful especially implore the mercy and goodness of the Lord, so that in the midst of the persecutions to which he is subjected by the enemy and the evils that squeeze him, God may not enter into judgment with him, but may show his mercy. As a servant of Jehovah, he asks to be taught and led. For allthese Psalms therefore express the feelings of people plunged into deep distress, but who, being in relationship with the Lord, – not driven away from Jerusalem and knowing Him only as God – are waiting for their enemies to be entrenched. For God is favorable only on the ground of his mercy, and any reputed justice of man has no meaning before him. Our prayers accompany you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Under the sun, everything is vanity (Ec 1).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.