Psalms 143:8
What does Psalms 143:8 mean?
Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.
The short answer
Psalm 143:8 is a prayer with two requests, and both begin with the word "cause." The psalmist asks God to "cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning" and to "cause me to know the way in which I should walk." He is not asking for information he could gather on his own. He is asking God to do something for him — to make love audible and to make the path visible. The verbs matter: this is the voice of someone who knows he cannot manufacture his own reassurance or map his own way forward.
The two requests answer two different needs. The first is emotional and relational: after a long, dark night — and this psalm is full of darkness — he wants the morning to bring some word of God's steadfast love, the covenant loyalty that the Hebrew word hesed carries. The second is practical: he needs direction, a way to walk, decisions to make. The verse holds the heart and the feet together in one prayer.
Each request also comes with a reason. He asks to hear love "for I trust in you," and asks to know the way "for I lift up my soul to you." Trust and surrender are the ground of the asking. Lifting up the soul is a striking image — he is handing over his whole inner self, the way you might lift something into someone else's hands.
This is why verse 8 works as the hinge of the psalm. Everything before it is complaint: enemies, darkness, a fainting spirit. Everything after it flows from this turn — deliver me, teach me, lead me. The morning cry for love and guidance is the moment the lament pivots from describing trouble to entrusting the self to God.
What scholars say
Where does Psalm 143 sit within the Psalter, and how does the psalmist understand himself before God? Nancy deClaissé-Walford places it among a group of four Davidic laments framed by psalms of thanksgiving, royalty, and wisdom, and notes the psalmist's distinctive self-description as God's servant in verses 2 and 12.
“Psalm 142 is the sixth psalm in a collection of eight psalms "of David" in Book Five (Psalms 138–45). It, along with Psalms 140; 141, and 142, is an individual lament, a group of four laments of David framed by Psalms 138 and 139 (individual hymns of thanksgiving) and Psalms 144 and 145 (a royal psalm and a wisdom psalm). Psalm 143 has a number of thematic and verbal links with Psalms 140–42, indicating their integrity as a group. A unique characteristic of Psalm 143 is the psalmist's reference to self in relation to God as your servant in vv. 2 and 12. The reference may be in anticipation of the royal psalm that follows.”
What it means for you
Most of us wake up needing exactly what this verse asks for: some assurance that we are loved, and some clarity about what to do next. Psalm 143:8 gives shape to that need. It suggests starting the day not with the to-do list or the news, but with a request — that God would let love be the first thing we hear, and that direction would follow from it, not precede it.
Notice the order. Reassurance comes before guidance. The psalmist listens for loving kindness first, then asks about the way to walk. When the day feels uncertain, this verse offers a place to stand: trust first, then take the next step.
Psalms 143 in context
Psalm 143 opens in distress. The psalmist is pursued by an enemy, sitting in darkness, his spirit failing (vv. 3–4). He remembers God's past works (v. 5) and stretches out his hands like parched land (v. 6). Verse 8 is where the psalm turns: after the urgent plea of verse 7 — answer me quickly, don't hide your face — he asks to hear love in the morning and to know the way forward. The rest of the psalm (vv. 9–12) builds on that turn, asking for rescue, teaching, and leading, and closes with the psalmist identifying himself as God's servant.