¹Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! ²And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous.

Lament psalms like this one can sound depressing—that is, until we encounter difficult times; then, our hearts resonate with David’s passion for reaching up to the Lord. The overwhelming challenges we face uncover the deep things of the heart, the real person that we are. This psalm provides an example of how to approach the Lord in times of distress.

David begins with humble transparency as he confesses that he has no moral righteousness to stand him in good stead with the Lord. The prophet Isaiah, many years later, taught this same truth:

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment…. (Isa. 64:6a)

Indeed, as we read in the NT, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Only the Lord God is perfectly righteous; therefore, David’s only hope of being heard is to appeal to God’s character. He prays with the knowledge that the Lord is a righteous God and will do right concerning his request. The more we know of and faithfully embrace God and His character, the more confidently we can approach Him in prayer. We, as NT believers, have the additional witness of Hebrews 4:16 that the Lord’s grace and mercy greets believers when they approach him. Therefore, we need not fear His judgment against us.

This psalm describes David’s distress in his personal experience. That is why we call this a “personal” lament psalm, as opposed to a “communal” lament psalm written on behalf of the nation as a whole. David has been “persecuted,” “crushed,” and is hiding “in dark places, like those who have long been dead” (v.3). This last phrase is reminiscent of David’s words in Psalm 23:4a: “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” David’s experience overwhelms him; it leaves him feeling “appalled” at his predicament (vs. 4), an expression translated elsewhere as “paralyzed in fear” (NLT) or “absolutely shocked” (NET).

As we noted in our meditation on Psalm 140, the enemy of verse 3 could be King Saul, who tried to kill David during his early rise to prominence. Again, we cannot be sure, but we can safely assume that David is not thinking of his son Absalom’s insurrection, for he loved Absalom despite his behavior (2 Sam. 18:33).

David has trained his mind to lean on God by meditating on the history of His working in Israel and in his own life (vs. 5). The Lord who answered the call of His people in the past can certainly do the same in the present—and that is where David’s mind and his faith lie. He, therefore, reaches out to the Lord from the anguish of his heart, asking Him to do as He has done in the past. But David doesn’t just long for God to rescue him from physical harm; he longs for the Lord Himself. He likens his desperate need for God to the need of dried-up land that cracks and is covered with dust after a long drought. David needs God as much as parched land needs water to flourish (vs. 6). In another psalm, he writes:

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1–2)

Beyond physical safety and protection, David appeals to God to meet several other needs. For each of his urgent requests, David gives the Lord a reason or a qualification:

• Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails (7a).
• Do not hide Your face from me, or I will become like those who go down to the pit. (vs. 7b).
• Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You (8a).
• Teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul (8b).
• Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You (9).
• Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God (10a).
• Let Your good Spirit lead me, on level ground (10b).
• Revive me, for the sake of Your name, O Lord (11a).
• Bring my soul out of trouble, in Your righteousness (11b).
• Eliminate my enemies, in Your lovingkindness (12a).

David calls on the Lord to keep His promises. He also asks God to act in accordance with His name’s sake and righteousness (vs. 11). David twice speaks of the Lord’s “lovingkindness,” a translation from the Hebrew word hesed (vss. 8, 12), used to describe the faithful character of God as the One who keeps His covenantal commitment to Israel. God does not need to be reminded to act in line with His character; it is we who need the reminder. Our prayers need to be oriented by the acknowledgment of who He is. We approach Him based on His character, not based on our assumed worthiness. God always acts with integrity, according to His Word, and He always keeps His promises. We can rely on that!

Finally, in verse 12b, David closes his prayer, recognizing that he is simply God’s servant—nothing more, nothing less.

Lord, I come to You as Your servant. Help me to seek You amid my trials and difficulties of life in the same way as David did.