DUNCAN/Lord, have mercy

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Psalm 143. This psalm is the last of what the church has called the penitential psalms. The psalmist realizes he’s guilty and that he deserves God’s judgment, and so he calls out for mercy with a repentant spirit. Psalm 6, Psalm 25, Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51, Psalm 130, are six of the penitential psalms and this is the last of those psalms. David is again teaching us how to pray, how to think, how to believe, and how to respond when we find ourselves in circumstances that are desperate. Do you ever feel desperate? David understands that. He knew that feeling of desperation and he records it here. 

David’s Plea for Covenant Mercy 

The first thing that I want you to see from verses 1 and 2 in this psalm is that David banks his whole hope on God’s character and God’s covenant. What you see in these verses is a plea for covenant mercy. “Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In Your faithfulness answer me, in Your righteousness!” David is absolutely convinced that his God is merciful, faithful, and righteous, and that’s what he is counting on in this time of his predicament. But even as those words come off of David’s lips, it’s almost like a dark thought flashes across his mind. If the Lord is merciful, faithful, and righteous, one thing is for certain — David is not. Ask Uriah. David’s not a fraud, he’s not a hypocrite; he’s a true believer, but he’s a true believer that is capable of falling badly.

And so, this thought flashes before his mind, and you see it in verse 2. “Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You.” He’s saying “Don’t deal with me on the basis of what I’m like; deal with me on the basis of what You’re like.” His whole hope is not on his goodness but on God’s goodness. And as he confesses his sin, suddenly you understand that when he is asking God to deal with him on the basis of faithfulness and righteousness, he means covenant faithfulness and covenant righteousness. God has made a promise to him — 2 Samuel 7. So, David’s plea is based on God’s character — He is merciful, He is faithful, He is righteous. He’s made a promise to David never to leave him or forsake him. My friends, we have no greater bulwark for our hope, no greater ground for our confidence, than the character and covenant of God. And when we find ourselves in desperation in the corner of our predicament, it’s to God that we go.  

David’s Predicament 

Second, he specifies the predicament that he’s in. You see this in verses 3 and 4. He spells out his situation to the Lord. “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. Therefore, my spirit faints within me and my heart within me is appalled.” David doesn’t candy coat anything. He tells you exactly how this has made him feel, and how low it has brought him. Do you do that? Do you spell it out before the Lord, or do you just give a generic summary? Spell it out. You may say, “The Lord already knows.” You’re right. He knows. David knew that too. David told Him anyway. He tells the Lord exactly how he feels, exactly where he is, exactly what’s going on. The Lord knows it already, but by following the example of Scripture, we learn that we need to spell it out. 

David’s Pattern of Spiritual Warfare

And then, in verses 5 and 6, he shows us how he begins to fight back. He describes his response to these circumstances. He’s acknowledging all his deliverances in life and all his people’s deliverances in life as the work of God’s hand and he remembers them. Do you remember the Lord’s deliverances in your life? Are they ingrained in your heart and mind so that you can articulate them? David spent time pondering, remembering, and meditating upon the works of the Lord in his life. 

Then, look at verse 6 — “I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land.” The first part of his response to his circumstance is remembering. The second part is saying, “Lord, what I need is You. I remember what You’ve done,” but now he says, “I stretch out my hands to You. You may or may not get me out of this circumstance, but You’re what I need. You may bring me through it, You may bring me around it, You may make it disappear, but whatever You do, what I need is You.” In many of our predicaments, the temptation is to think that we need deliverance as soon as possible. And here’s David, before he’s even gotten to praying to get out of the mess, saying, “No, no, no, Lord, the greatest need in my life is not to get out of this mess; the greatest need in my life is You.” And every Gospel deliverance begins with that recognition.

David’s Specific and Desperate Petitions 

And then finally comes this catalogue of specific and desperate petitions. You could number them different ways but maybe eleven petitions. But it’s the prayer for guidance that I want to concentrate on. If you’d look at verses 8 and 10, it fascinates me that though David does indeed pray for the deliverance and the destruction of his enemies, at the core of what he prays in this predicament is a prayer for guidance. “Lord, show me what I’m supposed to do.” And look at how he does it. Second line of verse 8. “Make me know the way I should go.” Then 10, “Teach me to do Your will. Let Your good Spirit lead me.” 

When you’re in a moment of desperation, do you find yourself befuddled sometimes as to what to do? When you’re in a predicament, the temptation is, “Whatever I have to do to get out of this I’m going to do.” And David says, “Nope. The most important thing for me to do is Your will.” And then he says, “Let Your good Spirit lead me.” What’s the Spirit going to do? He’s going to lead. How’s he going to lead? By making David want to do the Lord’s will. John Stott once said, “Ninety percent of knowing the will of God is being prepared to do it once you know what it is.” And that is exactly what David is praying here. “Lord, let Your good Spirit lead me so that I want to do what You want me to do.” Do you know what it is to be desperate, to be cornered, to be in that kind of predicament? David did, and Jesus did, and they prayed, “Not my will but Your will be done.”

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.