David wrote Psalm 143 feeling like he was in a ‘black hole… buried iike a corpse in that dungeon.’ (Ps 143:4, The Message) Life can often seem like this to us, leaving us feeling imprisoned, helpless and with no hope of freedom in the future.
As he sat in despair (‘my spirit draining away, my heart heavy, like lead‘), he learned to cope by doing 4 things:
- He remembered the good things God had done. He chose to think about the positive (‘I remembered the old days, went over all You’ve done, pondered the ways You’ve worked.’ Ps 143:5) Misery begets misery. We need to be careful of our internal conversations (saying ‘This will never change’ and ‘I will always be in this prison’ can become the rule of thumb for our lives when actually God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, Eph 3:20). We have to make a conscious choice and concerted effort to fix our eyes, thoughts, minds and heart on Jesus. Where we fix our thoughts and the conversations we have with ourselves will determine to a large extent whether the prison controls us or whether, like with Paul, it serves to advance the gospel. (‘When I am in the storm, the storm is not in me’, as Matt Redman sings in ‘Songs in the Night‘)
- He kept worshipping. Like Job, David learned to worship even in the times of despair. He stretched out his hands to God, ‘as thirsty for You as a desert thirst for rain.’ (Ps 143:6) Worship re-orientates us, fixing our gazes back on God. We cannot afford to only worship God when we feel like it. He is worthy of praise at all times and we only grow as we learn to bring a sacrifice of praise to Him.
- He cried out to God for help. He prayed, ‘Hurry up with Your answer, God! I’m nearly at the end of my rope. Don’t turn away; don’t ignore me!’ (Ps 143:7) We have to learn to persevere in prayer even when God’s answers are (to us) slow. We have to learn to keep on asking, seeking and knocking. Diane testified last night of the restoration of a couple for whom people have been praying for 30 years! We need to keep on knocking on God’s door, being unafraid of delays but confident in God’s willingness to hear and answer prayer.
- He listened for God’s guidance. David prayed, ‘Show me the way I should go.’ (Ps 145:8a) So often we pray this and fail to pause long enough to hear God’s answers or we are conditioned to expect a certain answer in a certain way and fail to recognise God’s responses (think of how Samuel thought Eli was calling him when God first called him, not recognising God’s voice.) We have to be open to correction and guidance, choosing to obey what God says even if His response is not the one we necessarily want or expect! God will direct our paths if we trust in Him and don’t lean on our own understanding or our own capacity to ‘sort things out’, but this requires ongoing trust and expectation.