The Bible Commentaries and Others: Psalms 143 v 7

http://biblebitbybit.blogspot.com/2016/01/psalms-143-v-7.html
Posted by Psalms on Saturday, 23 January 2016

Psalms 143:7

Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

143:7. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth. If long delayed, the deliverance would come too late. The afflicted suppliant faints, and is ready to die. His life is ebbing out; each moment is of importance; it will soon he all over with him. No argument for speed can be more powerful than this. Who will not run to help a suppliant when his life is in jeopardy? Mercy has wings to its heels when misery is in extremity. God will not fail when our spirit fails, but the rather he will hasten his course and come to us on the wings of the wind.

Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Communion with God is so dear to a true heart that the withdrawal of it makes the person feel ready to die and perish utterly. God’s withdrawals reduce the heart to despair, and take away all strength from the mind. Moreover, his absence enables adversaries to work their will without restraint; and thus, in a second way, the persecuted one is likely to perish. If we have God’s countenance we live, but if he turns his back upon us we die. When the Lord looks with favor upon our efforts we prosper, but if he refuses to countenance them we labor in vain.

Excerpt from:

The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)