The Goodness of the Spirit and Psalm 143
Psalm 143 reads as follows from the NIV version of the Bible:
1 O LORD
, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.
3 The enemy pursues me,
he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Selah
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD,
for I hide myself in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant
The goodness of the Spirit is a central and highlighted theme of this psalm.
The psalmist is speaking to the Lord with references to spiritual dimensions such as his own spiritual state and also referring to physical dimensions such as his surrounding circumstances and his situation in referent to time.
The word hide is used twice, in verse 7 and in verse 9.
The idea of hide is that there is no place else to go as far as real recourse.
The ultimate hiding place from all else that may confuse and confound the soul is the presence of the Lord and the psalmist is asking for this and asking that it not be taken away and that it be maintained.
David is admitting in this psalm that he cannot match up with all expectations as to righteousness and righteous behavior, but he is asking the Lord to overlook this and answer him despite the deficiencies in his spiritual state.
He acknowledges that the Lord could judge him as less than righteous, and has the right to do so but he also cites the truth that nobody reaches the point of being totally righteous in the sight of the Lord and indeed the Lord can find fault with anybody and everybody.
Verse 8 has particularly beautiful imagery.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
The probability is that this psalm is spoken of in the evening or early night, and
David is asking that the Lord bring word to him at the coming of morning, and within this speaks of the Lord's unfailing love, and while he might fail, he was calling upon the love of the Lord which differs in that is unfailing.
This particular psalm really forms to a prayer that is personalized from the soul of one individual to the love of the Lord for this individual soul and his goodness to David as an individual.
The perspective is that morning will come without fail and so will the Lord's love.
But within this verse he is also asking for the Lord's specific word on the issue at hand and this is a way to pray today, to ask the Lord for a word on a specific matter.
Another idea from this verse is to sometimes bring the dimensions of the time experience into prayer, just as you might say you will meet a friend in the morning, ask the Lord for something specific in the morning or a certain time of the day.
David compares the state of his soul to a parched land that thirsts instead of thirsting for rain is thirsting for the reigning presence of the Lord to him.
There is a spreading doom and darkness from the surrounding forces of hostile enemies who are becoming a consuming presence.
Yet there is still the space available to stop, and ponder and meditate upon the Lord's works of old and his greatness in times past, and how the Lord had come ever so close in the past.
David is not yet past or free and clear of his troubles as he asks in verse 11 that the Lord bring him out of trouble, yet even within this trouble, which is rather significant according to his descriptions of a dwelling place of darkness, he resorts to both a combination of prayer and meditation.
This might be a good model for someone in the depths of trouble today, in whatever form it might take and the recourse is of course prayer but also a pondering and meditation that includes just pondering the Lord and his works
The route to go is with a combination of prayer and meditation right within the trouble as the belief is that the Lord will have a way out of the trouble; otherwise David would not have asked for the way out of trouble in this psalm unless he believed that the Lord had the provisions for this.
The major requests in the prayer aspects of this psalm can be expanded into the intercessory realms of prayer.
For example, someone can also pray that the Lord get a friend out of trouble, a nation out of trouble, a particular group of people of trouble.
Within his meditation David travels back in time in his memory to days of old where the Lord had wonderful works both for him and through him as an agent of the Lord and an intercessor of the Lord.
Verse 10 says:
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
This verse is central to the psalm, showing that the abiding will and wishes of the Lord are out of the goodness of the Spirit.
People seek the will of the Lord and wonder how difficult it might be, or can they handle it and it will inevitably involve many challenges and hardships maybe.
But the teachings, the leadings, of the Spirit in accordance with the will of the Spirit are out of the goodness of the Spirit for the soul, otherwise famished for this goodness.
The Lord will satisfy the soul with good things.
Matthew 7.11 says
If you then, being evil, know how to givegood gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven givegood things to those who ask Him!
While this psalm talks about deep and encompassing troubles, the goodness of the Lord can be sought right in the middle of these trouble and right from these troubles, it isn't only after you get out of trouble that you can seek the goodness of the Spirit.
Someone in a heap of trouble can both ponder the goodness of the Spirit and the good gifts and ask for them in prayer right in the midst of this trouble.
The importance of the soul is in this psalm and this also can be brought into prayer both personal and intercessory where we ask for the needs of the soul both for ourselves and others and also to recognize that problems and troubles may go to the level of soul and to reference the needs of the soul in prayer more often and with greater zeal.
The hiding place of the Lord is an expansive view of great gifts that hides away all other troubles and brings to the light the understanding and real presence of the goodness of the Spirit in this special psalm with it pointed view to the individual relationship of the soul to the goodness of the Spirit
The Goodness of the Spirit and Psalm 143
By: Joseph Jagde
About the Author
(ArticlesBase SC #3277611)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - The Goodness of the Spirit and Psalm 143
Psalm 143 reads as follows from the NIV version of the Bible:
1 O LORD, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.
3 The enemy pursues me,
he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Selah
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD,
for I hide myself in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant
The goodness of the Spirit is a central and highlighted theme of this psalm.
The psalmist is speaking to the Lord with references to spiritual dimensions such as his own spiritual state and also referring to physical dimensions such as his surrounding circumstances and his situation in referent to time.
The word hide is used twice, in verse 7 and in verse 9.
The idea of hide is that there is no place else to go as far as real recourse.
The ultimate hiding place from all else that may confuse and confound the soul is the presence of the Lord and the psalmist is asking for this and asking that it not be taken away and that it be maintained.
David is admitting in this psalm that he cannot match up with all expectations as to righteousness and righteous behavior, but he is asking the Lord to overlook this and answer him despite the deficiencies in his spiritual state.
He acknowledges that the Lord could judge him as less than righteous, and has the right to do so but he also cites the truth that nobody reaches the point of being totally righteous in the sight of the Lord and indeed the Lord can find fault with anybody and everybody.
Verse 8 has particularly beautiful imagery.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
The probability is that this psalm is spoken of in the evening or early night, and
David is asking that the Lord bring word to him at the coming of morning, and within this speaks of the Lord's unfailing love, and while he might fail, he was calling upon the love of the Lord which differs in that is unfailing.
This particular psalm really forms to a prayer that is personalized from the soul of one individual to the love of the Lord for this individual soul and his goodness to David as an individual.
The perspective is that morning will come without fail and so will the Lord's love.
But within this verse he is also asking for the Lord's specific word on the issue at hand and this is a way to pray today, to ask the Lord for a word on a specific matter.
Another idea from this verse is to sometimes bring the dimensions of the time experience into prayer, just as you might say you will meet a friend in the morning, ask the Lord for something specific in the morning or a certain time of the day.
David compares the state of his soul to a parched land that thirsts instead of thirsting for rain is thirsting for the reigning presence of the Lord to him.
There is a spreading doom and darkness from the surrounding forces of hostile enemies who are becoming a consuming presence.
Yet there is still the space available to stop, and ponder and meditate upon the Lord's works of old and his greatness in times past, and how the Lord had come ever so close in the past.
David is not yet past or free and clear of his troubles as he asks in verse 11 that the Lord bring him out of trouble, yet even within this trouble, which is rather significant according to his descriptions of a dwelling place of darkness, he resorts to both a combination of prayer and meditation.
This might be a good model for someone in the depths of trouble today, in whatever form it might take and the recourse is of course prayer but also a pondering and meditation that includes just pondering the Lord and his works
The route to go is with a combination of prayer and meditation right within the trouble as the belief is that the Lord will have a way out of the trouble; otherwise David would not have asked for the way out of trouble in this psalm unless he believed that the Lord had the provisions for this.
The major requests in the prayer aspects of this psalm can be expanded into the intercessory realms of prayer.
For example, someone can also pray that the Lord get a friend out of trouble, a nation out of trouble, a particular group of people of trouble.
Within his meditation David travels back in time in his memory to days of old where the Lord had wonderful works both for him and through him as an agent of the Lord and an intercessor of the Lord.
Verse 10 says:
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
This verse is central to the psalm, showing that the abiding will and wishes of the Lord are out of the goodness of the Spirit.
People seek the will of the Lord and wonder how difficult it might be, or can they handle it and it will inevitably involve many challenges and hardships maybe.
But the teachings, the leadings, of the Spirit in accordance with the will of the Spirit are out of the goodness of the Spirit for the soul, otherwise famished for this goodness.
The Lord will satisfy the soul with good things.
Matthew 7.11 says
If you then, being evil, know how to givegood gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven givegood things to those who ask Him!
While this psalm talks about deep and encompassing troubles, the goodness of the Lord can be sought right in the middle of these trouble and right from these troubles, it isn't only after you get out of trouble that you can seek the goodness of the Spirit.
Someone in a heap of trouble can both ponder the goodness of the Spirit and the good gifts and ask for them in prayer right in the midst of this trouble.
The importance of the soul is in this psalm and this also can be brought into prayer both personal and intercessory where we ask for the needs of the soul both for ourselves and others and also to recognize that problems and troubles may go to the level of soul and to reference the needs of the soul in prayer more often and with greater zeal.
The hiding place of the Lord is an expansive view of great gifts that hides away all other troubles and brings to the light the understanding and real presence of the goodness of the Spirit in this special psalm with it pointed view to the individual relationship of the soul to the goodness of the Spirit
The Goodness of the Spirit and Psalm 143
By: Joseph Jagde
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