I Ponder the Work of Your Hands

This week I had an unscheduled appointment with my dermatologist. I had noticed some change in color in the scar above my left eye where I previously had melanoma. Because of the potential for recurring melanoma in this area to reach my eye or brain, my dermatologist did not want to wait until my next three-month appointment. The safest action to take was to biopsy it.

I’ve been this route many times, but above the eye is especially tender. The numbing shots are among the most pain I’ve experienced (which if you know all my other pain issues, that is saying a lot). I am thankful for the shots because I didn’t feel the actual punch biopsy. I got my stitch and went home. A few hours later, around my eye was swollen and bruised. The numbing shots wore off, and the pain was sharp. I knew from past experience that the pain would probably be gone by the next day, but I was desperate for the sharp pain to stop right then. It was hard to focus on anything or even to eat. I just wanted to fall asleep and wake up with no pain.

This was a short period of desperation, but there are other times that have been prolonged. Maybe you have experienced similar desperation, or maybe you are feeling desperate in a current situation. The psalmist David wrote Psalm 143 out of his desperation.

A Psalm of David.

1 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.

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.[1]

David is feeling overwhelmed and desperate because his enemy was relentlessly pursuing him (vs 3). David describes his enemy as pursuing his soul (not just him physically), crushing his life to the ground, and making him sit in darkness like those long dead (possibly an emotional darkness and/or the physical darkness of hiding in caves). David depicts himself as his spirit being faint within him, his heart as appalled (vs 4, sense of being overwhelmed and desperate), and his soul failing (vs 7). David Guzik portrays David’s condition as a “deep misery of soul.”

David’s overwhelming desperation led him to honestly plead with his real God for real and present help. His first plea was a plea for grace based on God’s character (vs 1-2) and for God’s glory. (vs 11a) His plea: “Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!” The basis: God’s character of being merciful, faithful, and righteous. David did not base his plea on his own righteousness as he counts himself among “no one living is righteous before You” (vs 2). David presented his plea in humility and within his relationship with God as God’s servant.

We too can be honest before God. We can humbly plead with Him as His children to listen to us based on His unchanging character. Similar to David, we can pray: “Lord, I know that You are righteous and I am not. Yet I come to You as Your servant, asking You to act on my behalf because of Your mercy and Your righteousness, not on my supposed righteousness.”[2]

David’s second plea is a plea for action (vs 7-12). This plea had an urgency to it. “Answer me quickly, O Lord!” (vs 7). This is an imperative and urgent. David asked God to aid him before it was too late. Although at times, God may bring deliverance later, possibly not until we are in glory with Him, David in this circumstance specifically asked for right here, right now help.

This plea was expectant and trusting: “Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust” (vs 8, emphasis added). David was expectant and trusting because he knew God’s steadfast love (hesed). This is God’s covenant love, lovingkindness, and mercy. God’s steadfast love led David to expectantly plead with God for guidance (vs 8, 10b), deliverance and refuge (vs 9, 11), teaching (vs 10a), and justice for his enemies (vs 12). His plea was a faith statement (vs 9b). He knows God is the only place to find refuge. David’s plea was a desire to do God’s will even in adversity (vs 10a), and for his deliverance to result in God’s glory (vs 11).

Like David, we can plead with God to act on our behalf. We can ask expectantly knowing that God loves and cares for us. We can petition God not only to act in the circumstance but to act in us, teaching us to do His will and to glorify Him regardless of when we are delivered.

We have seen David’s two pleas – a plea for grace and a plea for action, – but now, let’s look at two verses sandwiched between the two pleas. “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that You have done; I ponder the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land” (vs 5-6).

Midst David’s overwhelming and desperate circumstance and his pleas for mercy, he paused to remember, meditate on, and ponder what God had done. He paused in a posture of prayer and dependence.

When we are feeling overwhelmed and desperate, it is difficult to focus on anything but the circumstance causing those feelings. David by example directs us to take our eyes off ourselves and our circumstances and to remember, meditate on, and ponder all that God has done. This might be works God has done in your life or the life of someone you know. If you are struggling to think of something personal, open your Bible and read the multitude of things God did. Read of His power, wisdom, creativity, faithfulness, sovereignty, goodness, justice, lovingkindness, mercy, grace, and more. And if it is a battle even to read your Bible in your desperation, look outside at God’s creation. See what He has done. Commit yourself to meditate on and ponder “God is…” and “God did…” truths. Then acknowledge your complete dependence on God and be encouraged that there is no one better to be dependent on.

As we end today, I want us to remember Jesus who shortly before his crucifixion said to His disciples, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…” (Matthew 26:38). We have a High Priest who is able to sympathize with us in every way. Knowing the agony before Him, Jesus still willingly suffered, was forsaken by the Father, and died in our place for our sin so that we would never be forsaken. The Father hid His face from the Son, so that He would never hide His face from us. Jesus took our sin and bore the wrath of God, so that we could be delivered from sin and death. He suffered so that we could know God’s mercy, grace, faithfulness, and lovingkindness. He became sin, so that in Him, we could become the righteousness of God.

Reflection

1. Have you felt desperate and overwhelmed? What did you do in your desperation?

2. What works of God can you remember, meditate on, and ponder to encourage you when you feel desperate? Give thanks to God now for those works He has done.

3. When are you most likely to depend on God? Is it situational? What is one thing you can put into practice daily to grow your dependence on God?

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 143:title–12. [2] David Guzik, Psalms, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Ps 143:1–2.