There are times when prayer comes from a place so deep that words are difficult to gather. Trouble has continued, the heart has grown weary, and what once seemed bearable now presses upon every part of life. We come before God carrying the weight of what we can no longer hold alone.

Psalm 143 gives voice to that prayer:

“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.”

— Psalm 143:7

The need gives urgency to the cry. “Hear me speedily” rises from the confession that follows: “my spirit faileth.” The psalmist asks God to meet him where his strength is giving way.

Yet even here, he prays. The overwhelmed spirit reaches toward the Lord. The heart that feels desolate still seeks His presence. Within that movement, we begin to recognize something about prayer in distress: we can bring our failing strength into the relationship we have with God.

Hear My Prayer

The psalm opens with an appeal to His character:

“Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.”

— Psalm 143:1

Hear. Give ear. Answer. These requests express the longing to be received by God—to know that our cry has come before Him.

The appeal rests upon His faithfulness and righteousness. When our inward condition is unstable, we reach toward what is dependable in Him. We may struggle to understand our circumstances or scarcely know how to describe what we feel. We can still call upon the faithful God.

The next verse brings humility into the request:

“And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.”

— Psalm 143:2

The suffering person also needs mercy. Although enemies are afflicting him, he does not present himself as faultless before God.

There is room in an honest prayer for both the injury we have suffered and the wrong we must confess. We can ask God to defend us against injustice while acknowledging our own need for forgiveness. His righteousness exposes what is evil, and His mercy receives the person who turns toward Him.

Brought Down to the Ground

Then the psalm describes how deeply the affliction has reached:

“For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.”

— Psalm 143:3

The language descends. He is pursued, struck down, and made to dwell in darkness. His experience of life has become like that of someone already among the dead.

These words arise from persecution. The hostility of another has pressed upon him until it has affected his whole sense of life. The next verse names the inward consequence:

“Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.”

— Psalm 143:4

“Therefore” connects the affliction to its effect. What has happened around him has wounded him within.

A desolate heart feels devastated and emptied. Familiar comforts may seem distant. Ordinary responsibilities may become difficult. Even the effort to explain the pain can deepen the weariness.

The psalm brings that condition openly before God. We can pray from where we actually are, allowing our words to carry the truth of our need.

Elsewhere in Psalms, the same distress takes the form of sinking:

“I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.”

— Psalm 69:2

There is nowhere firm to place the feet. Every effort to rise seems to meet a greater weight. The waters continue coming.

Then the sufferer describes the exhaustion of waiting:

“I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.”

— Psalm 69:3

This is a person who has already been calling. The prayer has continued long enough for the voice to grow weary and the eyes to fail.

Such words matter for those who have prayed repeatedly over the same trouble. They show us that Scripture recognizes the strain of waiting. The exhausted cry is given a place within the prayers of God’s people.

Remembering with a Weary Heart

Within his own distress, the writer of Psalm 143 turns toward remembrance:

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.”

— Psalm 143:5

He remembers, meditates, and considers. He gives attention to what God has done.

Present suffering can become so consuming that it fills the entire field of our attention. Remembering God’s works brings a larger history before the heart. There have been other days, other mercies, other occasions when His faithfulness became known.

Yet remembrance can also hurt. Psalm 77 speaks honestly about that difficulty:

“I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.”

— Psalm 77:3

We may remember peace and wonder why we cannot find it now. We may remember answered prayers while struggling with the one that remains unanswered. The distance between former comfort and present trouble can become another part of the ache.

Psalm 77 carries those questions into further consideration of God’s works. The troubled heart continues searching the history of His faithfulness. We, too, may need to return patiently to what God has revealed, bringing our questions with us.

My Soul Thirsteth After Thee

In Psalm 143, remembrance opens into thirst:

“I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.”

— Psalm 143:6

The image is of dry ground awaiting water. Its need lies open beneath the heavens.

So the psalmist stretches out his hands. His posture gives expression to the dependence of his soul. He longs for God—for the presence and life he cannot supply from within himself.

This longing reaches beyond an explanation of the trouble. He needs the Lord in the midst of it.

Psalm 142 expresses that dependence from a place of isolation:

“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.”

— Psalm 142:3

The sufferer’s understanding has reached its limit, yet he appeals to the God who knows his way. Later, he prays:

“Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.”

— Psalm 142:6

He acknowledges the imbalance. The forces against him exceed his strength. Being brought low becomes something he tells God, and his helplessness enters the prayer.

Hear Me Speedily

That brings us to the urgent center of Psalm 143:

“Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth.”

The request for speed comes from the felt nearness of collapse. The psalmist tells God why he is asking so urgently. His inward resources are giving way.

The same plea appears in Psalm 102:

“Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.”

— Psalm 102:2

“Hide not thy face” expresses the longing for God’s attention and favor. At the moment help is most needed, the thought of being left alone becomes unbearable.

These prayers give us language for urgency. We may ask God to come quickly. We may tell Him that we are weary, frightened, overwhelmed, and uncertain how much longer we can endure.

We also learn from Psalms that an urgent request can be followed by continued waiting. Psalm 88 begins by addressing the “LORD God of my salvation,” yet closes while darkness still surrounds the speaker. Within that prayer, no completed rescue is reported.

Its place in Scripture makes room for the person whose story remains unresolved. The sufferer continues speaking to God from within the darkness. We can understand that continued address as a meaningful expression of dependence: the cry still has somewhere to go.

Psalm 130 gives waiting a watchful image:

“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”

— Psalm 130:6

The watcher longs for morning because the night has been long. Hope reaches toward the Lord while the darkness remains.

Cause Me to Know the Way

That longing appears in Psalm 143 as a request to hear God’s love:

“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”

— Psalm 143:8

The prayer asks for assurance and direction together. Let me hear Your lovingkindness. Let me know where to walk.

Distress can make the next step difficult to recognize. Fear can narrow our judgment. Weariness can leave us vulnerable to decisions made simply to escape the pressure. We need God’s care for our circumstances, and we need His guidance for our response.

The psalmist lifts his soul to God and asks to be shown a way forward.

Then he prays:

“Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.”

— Psalm 143:9

There is a tender connection between this request and the earlier cry. He has asked God not to hide His face; now he asks to find his own hiding place in God.

The One whose apparent absence frightens him is the One to whom he runs for shelter.

His prayer continues:

“Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.”

— Psalm 143:10

Here the desire for rescue opens into the desire to be taught. He wants God to lead his life through the trouble and beyond it.

This gives us one of the deepest movements in the psalm:

“My spirit faileth.”

“Thy spirit is good.”

The failing human spirit seeks the leading of God’s good Spirit. His own weakness becomes the place from which he asks for instruction, steadiness, and a right path.

We need this prayer when suffering has unsettled us. Teach me how to answer. Teach me how to act. Keep my pain from governing the way I treat others. Lead me in a way that is faithful to You.

Quicken Me, O Lord

Near the end comes another plea:

“Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.”

— Psalm 143:11

“Quicken” asks for life to be renewed or preserved. Earlier, he asked God to answer speedily. Here, he asks God to revive him.

The heart that has been overwhelmed needs sustaining life. The soul that has thirsted needs refreshing. The person brought down to the ground needs strength to rise and walk in the way God shows.

The final verse appeals for judgment upon the persecutors:

“And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.”

— Psalm 143:12

These are severe words, spoken from real affliction. The psalmist places his demand for deliverance and judgment before God. We should allow the passage to retain the seriousness of the persecution it describes.

Then we hear the closing affirmation: “I am thy servant.”

The trouble has not erased his belonging. Throughout the prayer, he has spoken of failing strength, darkness, thirst, and fear. He ends by identifying himself in relation to God.

Psalm 143 leaves the appeal before the Lord. Elsewhere, Psalm 116 gives the testimony of someone able to look back upon help received:

“I was brought low, and he helped me.”

— Psalm 116:6

There may be a distance between our present cry and the day we can speak those words. The psalms give us language for that distance. They teach us to remember, to thirst, to ask urgently, to wait, and to seek guidance while we wait.

We can bring God the exhausted voice and the desolate heart. We can ask Him to hear us speedily because our strength is failing. We can ask Him to renew our life and show us the next faithful step.

Our prayer may become very simple:

Hear me, Lord.
Revive me.
Teach me to do Thy will.

And from the depths of that prayer, we can still confess:

“Thou art my God.”

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. Principal passages: Psalm 143, with Psalms 69, 77, 88, 102, 116, 130, and 142.