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Psalm 143:8  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 entrust my life.

As with many of his psalms, David wrote this one out of desperation.  He was feeling very vulnerable in the face of his enemies, seen and unseen, known and unknown, and in the uncertainty of the future.

In today’s verse, David makes two requests: ‘bring me word’ and ‘show me the way’.  The particular form (hiphil) of the Hebrew verb in both cases is significant.

The former request is literally: “cause me to hear (of) your unfailing love”.  In his difficult, threatening circumstances, the King longs to have the assurance of the LORD’s ‘unfailing love’, his ‘ches-ed’, his ‘loving kindness and tender mercy’, the ‘love’ that binds the LORD to him in a secure covenant relationship.  David knows this ‘ches-ed’ as a fact (cf Psalm 23:6 – “Surely goodness and ches-ed will follow me all the days of my life,”), but at the moment he doesn’t fee; it as a reality.  The translation, ‘bring me word’ of it, tells only part of the story.  At the moment, David needs more than this.  He doesn’t only need God to bring him word of his unfailing love, he needs him to cause him to hear it.  I think of the exasperated wife who exclaimed to her husband, “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?”, to which he responded, “That’s a funny way to start a conversation”!  It is the Holy Spirit’s ministry within us, not our own feeble effort, that enables us to persevere under difficulty.

David’s second request is literally: “cause me to know the way I should go”.  He doesn’t just need pointers, he needs an internal work of grace in his heart and mind so that, despite his innate human frailty, he doesn’t get it wrong.

It is for these reasons that David “puts his trust” in his all-loving, ever-present, all-powerful, covenant-keeping, Sovereign LORD.  It is for these reasons that he “lifts up his soul”, his whole being, to the God who made him in his image.  It is for these reasons he needs a reminder every morning, as he faces the fresh challenges of a new day.  Are we making sure we give our God this opportunity by reading his Word every day?

– Bruce Christian