All Hope Is Not Lost
Scripture: Psalm 143 (NLT)
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my plea! Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.2 Don’t put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you.
3 My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave. 4 I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.
5 I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. 6 I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
Interlude
7 Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die. 8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord; I run to you to hide me.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. 11 For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life. Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.
12 In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies and destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.
One of the things that makes the Psalms so enduring is their refusal to pretend. Psalm 143 does not open with praise or confidence. It opens with a man on his knees. David is being chased by enemies, knocked to the ground, forced to live in darkness. And he does not dress it up. I am losing all hope, he says. I am paralyzed with fear. My depression deepens. These are not the words of someone who has it together. They are the words of someone who has run out of options and knows it. And that is precisely what makes this psalm so honest, and so useful.
Because it is right there, in that place of emptiness, that David does something we must learn to do. He remembers. I remember the days of old, he says. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. He does not manufacture hope from thin air. He reaches back into his history with God and lets what God has already done become the ground he stands on when the present has nothing left to offer. And from that remembered faithfulness, something shifts. The psalm that opened in despair begins to move toward trust.
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”¹ — C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Lewis understood what David was experiencing. Pain has a way of cutting through everything that normally keeps us at a comfortable distance from God. And what David finds when he turns toward God in his distress is not silence. He finds a place to run. Rescue me from my enemies, Lord. I run to you to hide me. Teach me to do your will. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. This is not passive surrender. It is active trust. David is not just asking God to fix his circumstances. He is pledging himself to follow wherever God leads, and asking that his deliverance bring glory to God’s name. That is the posture of a servant, not just a sufferer.
So whatever you are carrying today, you do not have to carry it alone. God hears the desperate cry of His servants. He sees what is pressing in on you. And because of His unfailing love, He is faithful to guide and preserve those who run to Him for refuge. The darkness does not have the final word. Run to Him. Tell Him the truth. Let His faithfulness in the past become your footing in the present. All hope is not lost.
Reflection:
- Can you relate to David’s feelings of fear or hopelessness in this psalm? How do you usually respond in those moments?
- What are some great works God has done in your life that you need to remember today?
- Where in your life do you feel uncertain or distressed, and what would it mean to trust God’s guidance in that area?
Prayer:
Be honest with God about where you feel weak, afraid, or worn down. Ask Him to rescue you and guide you forward on solid ground. Thank Him for His faithfulness in the past, and commit again to trust Him with what lies ahead.
Footnote:
¹ C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 91.