Thy Strong Word – Keep Praying Saint: Remember the Days of Old and Stretch Out Your Hands to Him

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Rev. Dr. Jason Soenksen, professor of theology at Concordia University, Mequon, WI joins host Rev. Brady Finnern to study and pray Psalm 143.

We ask for the LORD to hear us and He does. Our spirit may faint and enemies pursue us, but we have the LORD on our side, our enemies are His enemies, and He delivers us. He nourishes us by His Holy Spirit like water to a parched land. He preserves us and allows us to be fully honest: “my soul fails”, “my spirit fails”, and “lest I be like those who go down to the pit.” In our brokenness, He calls us to Himself to be His claimed and love servant. “O LORD, hear my prayer, answer me quickly, in our thirst for You, for You are my God and You were forsaken for me. In Christ, Amen”

Thy Strong Word reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations.

Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Psalm 143

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

143 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.

3 For 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.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.

5 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

7 Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
I have fled to you for refuge.[a]
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!

11 For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.

Footnotes

Psalm 143:9 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts To you I have covered