Praying to the Lord
Here is a good example of how to pray
Psalm 143
Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 20, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019
Prelude:
- The Jewish Council arrested Peter and John, and
- warned them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
- The apostles went back to the church and
- reported what had happened.
- Then the church prayed,
- using Psalm 2 in its prayer.
- It was right and scriptural for them to do so.
- Ephesians 5 says that we should use the Psalms:
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord… (Ephesians 5.18–19).
- Therefore, I am preaching through the Book of Psalms.
- After this one, I will only have seven more to go.
Persuasion:
- Psalm 143.0 | Use the Psalms
0 A Psalm of David.
- What David wrote
- he wrote from his own heart
- as the Holy Spirit guided him.
- What David wrote has application for us today.
- There is nothing about this Psalm
- that restricts it to him or Israel.
- What David wrote
- Psalm 143.1 | Petition God to Hear
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
And in Your righteousness.
- As you read Psalms such as this one,
- you might question why David pled so much,
- in just one prayer,
- for God to hear.
- Prayer is a privilege and a right, but
- sometimes we forget that it is a privilege.
- We have the right because
- we can go boldly to the throne of God
- as His children.
- Yet, it is a privilege because
- we are mere creatures speaking to the Creator, and
- at one time we had been sinners.
- We have the right because
- Likewise, sometimes we forget who is the servant.
- We use prayer as though God is our servant.
- However, as David states twice in this Psalm,
- we are God’s servants.
- Yes, He is our Father and we are His children, but
- that is still the same thing,
- He is above us.
- And I think David understood these things and
- that is why you read of his pleadings for God to hear.
- Perhaps back in the days of David,
- they had a similar saying to what we have today:
- Pray as though everything depends upon God and
- work as though everything depends upon you.
- That is how David lived.
- they had a similar saying to what we have today:
- you might question why David pled so much,
- David wanted God to hear, but
- David also wanted God to answer
- in His faithfulness and in His righteousness, or as we would say
- David wanted God to answer according to His will.
- David did not want God to do something contrary to His nature.
- While David had his own wishes on the matter,
- he knew that it did not all depend upon him.
- As you read Psalms such as this one,
- Psalm 143.2 | Why We Do Not Want God to Judge Us
2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no one living is righteous.
- We will see that David wanted help against the enemy.
- He certainly did not want God to enter into judgment against him.
- David explained why in a simple but profound declaration:
- “In Your sight no one living is righteous.”
3 “If one wished to contend with Him,
He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.”
(Job 9.3)14 “How then can I answer Him,
And choose my words to reason with Him?
15 For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him;
I would beg mercy of my Judge.”
(Job 9.14–15)
- I think we all know what David and Job meant.
- That is why some people are terrified of dying.
- The Judgment frightens them.
- Psalm 143.3–4 | Explain Your Problem
3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in darkness,
Like those who have long been dead.
4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart within me is distressed.
- Those are the words of a man overwhelmed by an enemy or a problem.
- He was
- persecuted,
- crushed,
- in darkness, and
- nearly dead.
- What someone was doing to him
- overwhelmed him and
- distressed his heart.
- He was
- My point is that David told God what he was experiencing.
- Speak to God of exactly what is happening to you.
- Do not fear sounding weak, because
- He knows exactly what kind of person you are.
- He knows your every strength and
- He knows your every weakness.
- So come out and tell him
- that you are afraid,
- that you are weak,
- that you need help,
- that you do not know what to do.
- He knows exactly what kind of person you are.
- David did not hesitate to open his heart completely to God.
- What do you have to hide.
- He knows everything that is in there anyway.
- Those are the words of a man overwhelmed by an enemy or a problem.
- Psalm 143.5–6 | Think on God’s Works
5 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
6 I spread out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You like a thirsty land.
Selah
- This is where David got his strength, and
- this is where you can get your strength.
- This is why we have the record of ancient Israel and the first century church in the Bible.
- We can see the things they experienced,
- how they dealt with them, and then
- go on to victory just as they did.
- The sons of Korah in Psalm 42 spoke similar words:
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
(Psalm 42.5–6)
- If you do what David did in verse 5, you will be as him in verse 6.
- Verse 5:
- He remembered the days of old,
- such as in Israel’s history or
- in David’s own life.
- He meditated on all God’s works.
- That would be everything mentioned in Scripture and
- everything in the world.
- He mused on the works of God’s hands,
- knowing that God was behind his life and Israel’s national life.
- He knew that God personally worked in his life.
- He remembered the days of old,
- Verse 6:
- Thinking on those things
- moved David to spread out His hands to God, and
- to tell God that his soul longed for God
- like a thirsty land longs for water.
- Verse 5:
- I am hear to tell you:
- Think on everything that God has done in the past,
- even if you do not think that it has anything to do with your issue.
- Think on Israel in Egypt and
- the institution of the sacrificial system.
- Think on Jesus walking the land of Israel and
- meeting all kinds of people along the way.
- Think on the wonders of natural creation and
- how God has made it perfectly for you to live here.
- Think on Israel in Egypt and
- Watch how those thoughts affect
- your faith in God and
- your prayers to Him.
- This is where David got his strength, and
- Psalm 143.7–9 | Plead for God to Answer
7 Answer me speedily, O LORD;
My spirit fails!
Do not hide Your face from me,
Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.
9 Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
In You I take shelter.
- These are the words of a desperate man.
- He was not demanding that God answer him RIGHT NOW, but
- he saw defeat happening right around the corner.
- Therefore, he placed his life before the Lord,
- needing help right away.
- He did not want God to hide His face because
- when you are in dire straits
- you think that God has hidden His face from you.
- Yet, one of the countless things that Scripture shows
- is that God works behind the scenes.
- David knew that just because he could not see God’s face,
- did not mean that God could not see David’s face.
- He was not asking God to show His face, but
- for God to look His way and help.
- Otherwise, David believed
- that he would go down into the pit, he would die.
- By the next morning he was hoping to hear
- of the Lord’s lovingkindness,
- that the Lord had rendered the help that David needed, for
- in God David trusted.
- David knew that God had the capability.
- It was not a test of God’s ability, but
- it was a matter of whether God would help.
2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matthew 8.2–3)
- It is important to see in verse 8,
- that David also wanted the Lord to know
- that he wanted the Lord to instruct him in the way that he should go.
- This prayer was not a momentary thing with David,
- he wanted instruction for life.
- He did not just want the Lord for this moment, but
- to be with him as he went in the way that he should go.
- David was not making a promise of something that he would do
- to persuade God to rescue him, but
- David lifted up his soul to God.
- This was a whole self, a whole life thing.
- These are the words of a desperate man.
- Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
11 Revive me, O LORD, for Your name’s sake!
For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies,
And destroy all those who afflict my soul;
For I am Your servant.
- David continued to ask for instruction in the will of God.
- That made sense to David because
- Jehovah was his God.
- David knew the Spirit of God as being good.
- Since He was David’s God and
- since God’s Spirit is good,
- David asked for God’s leadership.
- That made sense to David because
- Then David went back to the subject of this prayer.
- He needed his soul rescued from his current trouble.
- Enemies were afflicting His soul.
- However, David was God’s servant.
- He knew that He could make such a request of God because
- David repeated from earlier
- that he was God’s servant.
- David continued to ask for instruction in the will of God.
Got something to say? Go for it!