Psalm 143:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge!
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.
Devotional:
We who believe in Christ are exempt from punishment. We have escaped hell and no longer bear our guilt. We may count on strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. And yet that is not the whole gospel. The goal of the gospel and the highest purpose of our lives is that we should do the will of God.
Beaten by his enemies, the psalm writer suffered pain and asked for deliverance. All of us should do the same when we feel the pinch. But it isn't hard to pray for deliverance from sin and pain. It's more difficult and more important to pray, "Teach me to do your will... may your good Spirit lead me."
We need to pray not merely to know God's will but to do God's will, because there's a big difference between knowledge and practice. When we do the will of our Liberator, we are really free. The psalmist said, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God." We are transformed into new people when God's will becomes our will.
Since none of us can make the Word and will of God our own simply by wishing, we hand the reins over to God: "May your good Spirit lead me on level ground."
Level ground�not rough territory that trips us up every time. We want to travel on God's highway, by his power, and reach his goal.
