Psalm 119:173 NKJV
Let Your hand become my help,
For I have chosen Your precepts.
Help from the Hand of God
My Notes
Scripture: “Let Your hand become my help, For I have chosen Your precepts.” —Psalm 119:173 (NKJV)
David’s prayer is both humble and confident. He asks for help—not from men, not from circumstance, but from the hand of God. “Let Your hand become my help…”—he knows that only God’s hand has the power, skill, and grace to sustain him. Like Peter sinking in the waves, David cries out for rescue, trusting that the same hand that formed him can uphold him.
This is not a passive request. David has made a choice: “I have chosen Your precepts.” He has aligned his life with God’s Word, preferring holy commandments over human opinions. His obedience is not casual—it’s deliberate, affectionate, and unwavering. Because he has chosen the path of truth (Psalm 119:30), he can boldly ask for the Lord’s assistance.
This verse reminds us that spiritual strength is not self-generated. Our sufficiency is from God (2 Corinthians 3:5). We may labor, preach, pray, and listen—but without God’s hand, our efforts are fruitless. The means of grace must be accompanied by the power of grace. Otherwise, we are like Peter fishing all night with empty nets—until he casts them in the name of the Lord (Luke 5:5).
David’s prayer is comprehensive. He seeks help against enemies, help for his soul, help for time and eternity. He asks for the hand of providence to supply, the hand of grace to sanctify, and the hand of power to deliver. He knows that if God does not help, no one else can.
This is the posture of true dependence. When we choose God’s precepts, we commit our hands to obedience—and we may rightly ask for His hand to empower us. Grace not only gives the desire to obey, but the strength to perform. When the task feels too great, we can come to the Lord, call and ask, “Let Your hand become my help.”
Questions for Today
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Where do you most need God’s help right now?
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Have you fully chosen God’s precepts over the world’s opinions?
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How has God’s hand helped you in the past?
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What spiritual work feels too big for you right now?
Prayer
Abba, let Your hand become my help. I have chosen Your precepts—I have set my heart to obey. But my strength is not enough. My hands are weak, my efforts limited. I need Your hand—strong, wise, and gracious—to provide for me. Help me in my calling, my battles, my weaknesses. Supply what I lack, sanctify what I offer, and strengthen what I begin. I trust You, the One who formed me and called me. Let Your hand rest upon me, and let Your power be made perfect in my weakness. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Cross References for Further Study (NKJV)
Help and Strength from God
Psalm 121:1–2 I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Choosing God’s Way
Psalm 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 30:19–20 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
The Power of God’s Hand
Exodus 15:6 Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces.
Psalm 89:13 You have a mighty arm; Strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand.
Acts 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
Divine Enablement and Intercession
Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Proverb for Today
The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the instruction for wisdom [its starting point and its essence]; And before honor comes humility. Proverbs 15:33 AMP
NOTE: Psalm 119 has 22 sections to which each section is represented by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Today, we’re looking at verse 173, which is in the 22nd section, which is called “Tau (ת) ”. Tau (ת) is the 22nd and final letter of the Hebrew alphabet, symbolizing completion, truth, and divine protection.
Tau (ת) is pronounced “tav” in modern Hebrew. Its ancient pictographic form resembled a cross or mark, and in some traditions, it is associated with the shape of a cruciform or seal. As the last letter, Tau (ת) often represents the end, fulfillment, or wholeness of something—whether a word, a covenant, or a spiritual journey. Early Christian writers, such as Tertullian, saw Tau (ת) as a prophetic symbol of the cross of Christ. Its shape and use as a protective mark were interpreted as pointing to salvation through Jesus.
The psalmist is approaching the end of the Psalm, and his petitions gather force and fervency; he seems to break into the inner circle of divine fellowship, and to come even to the feet of the great God whose help he is imploring. This nearness creates the most lowly view of himself, and leads him to close the Psalm upon his face in deepest self-humiliation, begging to be sought out like a lost sheep.” (Spurgeon)
………..Bill
Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 119:173 reflects David’s urgent plea for divine help, grounded in his deliberate choice to follow God’s precepts. Spurgeon emphasizes that God’s hand—strong, skillful, and ready—is the only true source of practical and spiritual aid. Like Peter sinking on the sea, David knows he will falter without God’s intervention. His request is not presumptuous but anchored in obedience; he has chosen God’s ways over all others. This choice gives him confidence to ask for sustaining grace. When we commit our hands to God’s service, we may boldly ask His hand to strengthen, uphold, and complete what we cannot do alone.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Let thine hand help me.” Give me practical succor. Do not entrust me to my friends or thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. I am willing to do the utmost that I am able to do; but what I need is thine help, and this is so urgently required that if I have it not, I shall sink. Do not refuse thy succor. Great as thy hand is, let it light on me, even me. The prayer reminds me of Peter walking on the sea and beginning to sink; he, too, cried, “Lord, help me,” and the hand of his Master was stretched out for his rescue.
“For I have chosen, thy precepts.” A good argument. A man may fitly ask help from God’s hand when he has dedicated his own hand entirely to the obedience of the faith. “I have chosen thy precepts.” His election was made, his mind was made up. In preference to all earthly rules and ways, in preference even to his own will, he had chosen to be obedient to the divine commands. Will not God help such a man in holy work and sacred service? Assuredly, he will. If grace has given us the heart with which to will, it will also give us the hand with which to perform. Wherever, under the constraints of a divine call, we are engaged in any high and lofty enterprise, and feel it to be too much for our strength, we may always invoke the right hand of God in words like these.
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Enduring Word
Let Your hand become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts: The psalmist felt he could boldly ask for God’s help, because he had chosen to love and keep the word of God. (Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
Let thine hand help me – Do thou help me – the hand being that by which we accomplish anything.
For I have chosen that precepts – I have chosen them as my comforters and my guide. I have resolved to obey them, and I pray that thou wilt help me to accomplish the purpose of my heart.
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John Gill
Let thine hand help me,…. Let thine hand of power help me against mine enemies, and deliver me from them; and let thine hand of providence and grace communicate to me, and supply me with and help me to everything needful for me, for body and soul; for time and eternity, all grace here, and glory hereafter; let thy right hand help me on in my way, hold and uphold me, keep and preserve me safe to heaven and happiness;
for I have chosen thy precepts; not only the good part, which shall not be taken away, and the way of truth, Psalm 119:30; but even the commandments of God, which he preferred to the commandments of men, and choose rather to obey the one than the other; having a most ardent affection for them, an high esteem of them, and a strong attachment to them; see Psalm 119:127.
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Matthew Henry
David prays that divine grace would work for him: Let thy hand help me. He finds his own hands are not sufficient for him, nor can any creature lend him a helping hand to any purpose; therefore, he looks up to God in hopes that the hand that had made him would help him; for, if the Lord do not help us, whence can any creature help us? All our help must be expected from God’s hand, from his power and his bounty.
That he had made religion his serious and deliberate choice: “I have chosen thy precepts. I took them for my rule, not because I knew no other, but because, upon trial, I knew no better.” Those are good, and do good indeed, who are good and do good, not by chance, but from choice; and those who have thus chosen God’s precepts may depend upon God’s helping hand in all their services and under all their sufferings.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Let thine hand help me.” David, having before made promises of thankfulness, seeks now help from God, that he may perform them. Our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of God; to will and to do are both from him. In temporal things, men ofttimes take great pains with small profit; first, because they seek not to make their conscience good; next, because they seek not help from God: therefore, they speed no better than Peter, who fished all night and got nothing till he cast his net in the name of the Lord. But in spiritual things we may far less look to prosper, if we call not for God’s assistance: the means will not profit us unless God’s blessing accompany them. There is preaching, but for the most part without profit; there is prayer, but it prevails not; there is hearing of the word, but without edifying; and all because in spiritual exercises instant prayer is not made unto God, that his hand may be with us to help us.
—Abraham Wright.
“I have chosen thy precepts.” Hath God given you a heart to make choice of his ways? O bless God! There was a time when you went on in giving pleasing to the flesh, and you saw then no better thing than such a kind of life, and the Lord hath been pleased to discover better things to you, so as to make you renounce your former ways, and to make choice of another way, in which your souls have found other manner of comforts, and satisfactions, and contentments than ever you did before. Bless God as David did: “Blessed be the Lord who hath given me counsel“…Seeing God hath thus inclined your heart to himself, be for ever established in your choice: seeing God hath shown to you his ways, as Pilate said in another case, “That I have written I have written:” so say you, “That I have chosen I have chosen.”
—Jeremiah Burroughs, in “Moses His Choice“
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