Psa 143 | EE | STEP | This is a psalm of David. LORD, hear my prayer. Listen to me when I ask you for help. Answer me, because you are a loving and fair God.

Psalms 143

God is My only Hope

This is a psalm of David.

1 LORD, hear my prayer.

Listen to me when I ask you for help.

Answer me, because you are a loving and fair God. ^{▼▼143:1 Verse 1: ‘LORD’ is a special name for God. It is his covenant name. A covenant is when two people (or groups of people) agree. Here, God agrees to love and give help to his people. They agree to love and obey him. You say a prayer when you speak to God.}

2 Do not judge me your servant,

because nobody alive on earth is righteous. ^{▼▼143:2 Verse 2: ‘Judge’ means ‘say whether someone is right or wrong.’ ‘Righteous’ means ‘very, very good.’ Only God is really righteous.}

3 An enemy is following me.

He is trying to kill me.

He wants to put me in a dark place,

like people who have been dead for a long time. ^{▼▼143:3 Verse 3: The dark place was Sheol. Jews believed that they went to Sheol when they died. There was no light there.}

4 My spirit inside me is becoming weak.

My heart inside me has no hope. ^{▼▼143:4 Verse 4: Our spirit is the part of us that lives after our body dies. The Jews believed that you thought with your heart.}

5 I remember what happened many years ago.

I think about all that you did.

Also, I see in my mind all that your hands have done. ^{▼▼143:5 Verse 5: Many Bible students think that:
– ‘All that you did’ means what God did for his people;
– ‘All that your hands have done’ means what God made, like the earth, the stars and the sun.}

6 I raise my hands to you.

I want you as badly as dry ground wants rain.

SELAH ^{▼▼143:6 Verse 6: People raised their hands to God when they prayed to him. Many Christians still do this. Bible students are not sure what ‘selah’ means. Maybe it means ‘stop and think’; or ‘stop and pray’; or ‘a place for music.’}

7 Answer me soon, LORD. I am losing hope.

Do not hide your face from me.

If you do I will be as those people that go down into the Pit. ^{▼▼143:7 Verse 7: ‘Hide your face’ means ‘look the other way.’ If God looked away, he would not see (or answer) people’s prayers. The Pit was the worst part of Sheol. It was a hole. If you went into that hole, you never came out again!}

8 I want to hear news of your kind love in the morning.

This is because I am trusting in you.

Show me what I should do.

Show me because I have asked you to show me. ^{▼▼143:8 Verse 8: ‘Trusting’ means ‘believing in and hoping.’ The psalmist (the person who wrote the psalm) believed in God. And they hoped that God would send help.}

9 LORD, make me free from my enemies,

because I am hiding in you. ^{▼▼143:9 Verse 9: ‘Hiding in you’ means ‘trusting that you will do something.’}

10 Teach me what you want me to do.

Teach me because you are my God.

Your spirit is good.

It will lead me to ground that is flat. ^{▼▼143:10 Verse 10: ‘Your spirit’ is another name for God. In the New Testament it became the Holy Spirit. The ‘ground that is flat’ means a place where it is easy to walk. It is like a picture of an easy life. The psalmist hopes that God will lead him to an easier life.}

11 Save my life, LORD, because of your great name.

Bring me out of trouble, because you are righteous. ^{▼▼143:11 Verse 11: ‘Because you are righteous’ may mean ‘because you do what is right and good.’ It is not quite the same as ‘very, very good.’}

12 Because you love me, kill my enemies.

And destroy the people that fight against me.

Do this because I am your servant.