On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I had been a pastor for five months. What would I say to the congregation on Sunday? I thought nothing I could say could be adequate. I was wrong.
I had no suitable insights of my own, but the Scriptures themselves were more than adequate to speak to us in that moment as humans, as Americans, and as Christians. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
My text that Sunday, was Psalm 143. It hasn’t lost any relevance.
Crushed … to the ground
What is defeat supposed to do in our lives as God’s people? How are we supposed to respond when we’ve been “crushed… to the ground”? Psalm 143 presents at least 4 things we ought to do.
The first four verses help us feel the situation:
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. (ESV, Ps 143:1–4)
There is real defeat here. There’s an aggressive enemy and, at least for now, he has won. He has “crushed… life to ground.”
That’s the context. In our day, September 11 seems to fit. But defeat takes many forms.
1. We should get a grip
Psalm 143:1-2
David, the singer-songwriter, isn’t talking about getting a grip on himself here, though that is also a biblical idea (1 Pet 1:13).
No, what we find in 143:1-2 is a desperate human being humbly reaching out. He’s trying to get a grip on God. He isn’t asking for anything yet in connection with his defeat. He is humbly seeking a person: God Himself. This is the right place to start.
- David is getting a grip on Someone he knows: “…O LORD” (יהוה, Yahweh). He is not crying out to “the universe” or “a higher power.” Yahweh is someone David had personal history with (“in your faithfulness”). There was a relationship. This becomes more clear later.
- David understands the relationship. Two huge truths confront us here: God is righteous. We are not (“…answer me in your righteousness! Enter not into judgment… no one living is righteous”).
Though Hebrews 4:16 calls us to “draw near to the throne” “with confidence,” we still come humbly—because we’re not actually righteous. Our righteousness is Christ’s. We are justified, but only beginning to be transformed.
Imagine you’re a criminal devoted to a criminal’s life. One day you rob a rich man’s house and kill his only son. You go to jail, but eventually the rich man becomes President and pardons you. Amazing, right? But he doesn’t stop there. He offers to share his wealth with you and help you begin a new life.
You’re deeply moved and decide to devote your life to the one who pardoned you, whose son you killed. But you can’t out give your rescuer! He gives you the keys to his mansion and even his office. He says you can come any time and bring any need!
You see the application I’m sure. Somehow we get to used that reality, just like the Israelites did. Crushing defeats have a way of reminding us of how indescribably beautiful this relationship is:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Ro 5:1–2)
2. We should face the defeat honestly
Psalm 143:3-4
When we’ve suffered a crushing defeat, we shouldn’t try to pretend everything is fine. There’s a place for “stiff upper lip” and “muddle through.” That comes later, though.
First, there is facing the disaster for what it is. The song uses vivid words.
- “pursued”
- “crushed … to the ground”
- “made me sit in darkness”
- “like those long dead”
- “spirit faints”
- “heart … is appalled”
The relationship established by being “in Christ” (Rom 8:1) doesn’t just allow us to be honest with God about our sorrows. It requires that honesty. Any less is an insult.
It’s like tripping and falling down while in the waiting room at urgent care then wailing, “What a shame there are no doctors here!”
It’s an insult from an idiot.
This is not what God had in mind for our relationship with Him!
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Pet 5:6–7)
So when the enemy crushes you, go. Cry and carry on and dump the whole mess on the One who loves you more than you can understand. Why should the Creator of the universe care like that about our hurts? It’s just how He is (1 John 4:16).
3. We should put the defeat in context
Psalm 143:5-7
The psalmist does two things to regain perspective—the big picture.
- He looks back: “I remember the days of old”
- He looks around: “I ponder the work of your hands”
In both cases, his attention is turned to God’s history and God’s present. The result is a renewed appetite for God Himself.
This is not, “When you’re in trouble, just think about how great God has been and is, and you’ll soon be singing, ‘I’m Inright Outright Upright Downright Happy All the Time!’”
There’s no flood of happiness in these verses. And what does happen here has some prerequisites. Despite some severe personal failures, David was a man who cultivated and nurtured his affection for God on a regular basis over years and decades.
So even after being crushed to the ground, turning his mind to the perfections of God awakened his appetite for God. He looks back, he looks around, and he exclaims:
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. (Ps 143:6–7)
When we follow this pattern, our perspective and also our affections are reoriented.
4. We should seek the best future
Psalm 143:8-12
It’s fascinating to me how David prays in this situation. His prayers seek two things in his future.
First, he does what we would all do—the obvious thing.
- 143:9 “deliver me from my enemies”
- 143:12 “cut off my enemies… destroy all the adversaries”
David had some prerogatives that don’t align perfectly with ours. God had chosen him to be Israel’s king, faithfully serving under the Mosaic Covenant. America isn’t Mosaic Covenant Israel, and we are not Covenant kings. Our enemies are not necessarily God’s enemies.
But our singer-songwriter’s prayers here take a second form, and this is where our common ground with him is challenging and encouraging.
Note how these requests differ from those above:
- 143:8 “let me hear… make me know”
- 143:10 “teach me… lead me”
And the accompanying attitude is also important:
- 143:11 “for your name’s sake…”
- 143:12 “I am your servant”
David’s desire to see those harming him defeated is surrounded and constrained by another desire: to hear from God, to learn, grow, and serve.
So the Psalm ends where it began—with a relationship of both trust and devotion, both admiration and affection. When we are crushed to the ground we have every reason to get up again for God’s “name.”
Photo by Julien Maculan on Unsplash
