Psalm 143:1 NKJV
Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, and in Your righteousness.
David asks God to answer his prayer based on the faithfulness and righteousness of God. These are very important principles of prayer. We must approach God on the basis of His goodness and not our own. We cannot see God’s faithfulness like we see our own. We are striving to be faithful but there is no comparison between our faithfulness and God’s. As David went on to say in the 143rd psalm, no one living is righteous in the sight of God. Now we who are born again have been made righteous, but when God sees our righteousness He is looking at His righteousness He has bestowed on us through Jesus Christ. It is not a result of our good works. As Isaiah put it, our own righteousness is as filthy rags. That statement was comparing our righteousness with God’s. Thank God we can go to Him in prayer based on His faithfulness and righteousness instead of our own.