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Psalm 143:5

I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.

3For 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.
4Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
5I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
6I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.
7Hurry to answer me, LORD. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
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← Psalm 143:4Psalm 143:6 →
Notice

The “days of old” come to mind while David’s heart is desolate, showing how remembering God’s works can coexist with distress that has yet to lift.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What work of God comes to mind when you think back over the “days of old”?

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How does David’s desolate heart shape your understanding of his choice to remember?

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What would you like to tell God as you contemplate the work of his hands?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 77:11I will remember the LORD’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old.Both verses speak of remembering God’s deeds from long ago and directing thought toward what he has done.
1 Timothy 4:15Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.The shared thread is sustained attention, though the psalm concerns God’s works and Timothy’s instruction concerns diligence and visible progress.
Psalm 77:10–12Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.”Both speakers look back toward earlier years with God in view, one contemplating his works and the other appealing to those years.
Psalm 111:2The LORD’s works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them.God’s works are the subject of thought in both verses, contemplated in Psalm 143 and pondered with delight in Psalm 111.
Psalm 77:5–6I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.Both speakers turn their thoughts toward the days of old, making the past a subject of present reflection.
Nehemiah 4:14I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and …Remembering God appears amid danger in both settings, as David faces pursuit and Nehemiah urges the people to remember the Lord.
Jonah 2:7“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.Both speakers remember God while overwhelmed, with Jonah describing a fainting soul and David recalling God’s works from a desolate heart.
1 Samuel 17:45–50Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God …Both passages turn toward the LORD amid threat, though only the psalm speaks of remembering his works.
Micah 6:5My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous …Both passages connect remembrance of the past with attention to the LORD’s acts.
1 Samuel 17:34–37Both involve recalling the past, though the supplied Samuel verse recounts danger to sheep without yet naming a work of God.
Isaiah 63:7–14I will tell of the loving kindnesses of the LORD and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has given to us, and the great goodness toward the …Both speakers attend to what the LORD has done, with Isaiah naming his loving kindnesses and goodness toward Israel.
Deuteronomy 8:2–3You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was …Both passages direct attention back to God’s past activity, with Deuteronomy naming his leading through forty wilderness years.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. fear for the future. gratitude.

What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about gratitude →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Reread Psalm 143:5 and name one work of God

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Encouragement

Remembering does not bring David’s distress to an end here; his next words still express thirst for God. Your distress need not be resolved before you remember what God has done.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 143:5. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 143 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).