Psalm 143 · a question people ask
"In your sight no man living is righteous" (143:2). Is the psalmist confessing a sin?
The psalm doesn't name a sin. It asks, "Don’t enter into judgment with your servant" (143:2), and the reason it gives takes in everyone alive: "for in your sight no man living is righteous" (143:2). The trouble it names is an enemy: "For the enemy pursues my soul" (143:3), and it doesn't say the enemy's pursuit is a punishment. What it asks for, it asks on God's account: "In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me" (143:1), "Revive me, LORD, for your name’s sake" (143:11), and "In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies" (143:12). These notes don't supply a sin the psalm doesn't name, or say why the psalmist asks not to be judged beyond the reason he gives.
The verses
“A Psalm by David. Hear my prayer, LORD. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me. Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous. For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.”
“Revive me, LORD, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.”