There are three characteristics of God in Ps 143:1, that give you confidence when you pray that God will hear and answer your prayer.  Because of these three traits, when you pray, you can count on God.  You can count on God’s:

Count on God’s Graciousness

v.1 “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplication”.  When the Lord passed by Moses on Mt Sinai, he proclaimed “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious…”, Ex 34:6.

The Lord is the one who invited us to pray to him.  We didn’t petition God and hope he would answer us; he commanded us and hoped we would pray to him.

He said, “Call upon me in the day of trouble…”, Ps 50:15.  He commanded us in the New Testament, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint”, Lk 18:1.  He commanded us to, “Pray without ceasing”, 1 Thes 5:17.

In the laws and ordinances given to Israel, the Lord commanded a lender to return a poor man’s raiment that he takes to pledge.  The Lord warned lenders who don’t obey, “when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious”.

In Is 30:19, we read, “he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee”.

It is the very nature of God to hear and answer our prayers.  In Matt 7:7-11, the Lord told Israel to ask, seek, and knock and encouraged them with these words.  “… how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him”?

Count on God’s Faithfulness

v.1 “in thy faithfulness answer me”.  Deut 7:9 says, “… the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God”.  Paul wrote, “God is faithful”, 1 Cor 1:9, 1 Cor 10:13.  John wrote, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins”, 1 Jn 1:9.

When God puts something in writing, you can count on God without a doubt.  See Jn 14:13-14; Jn 15:7; Jn 16:23-24.  These are just some of the passages in the written words of God that help us to count on God when we’re praying.

Now, we know that there are certain hindrances to prayer, that can affect us when we pray.  And there are certain prayers, as in Jas 4:4:2-3, that the Lord is not going to answer.  But when you have obeyed the words of God and you pray according to his will, 1 Jn 5:14-15, he’s going to hear you and answer.  God is faithful.

Count on God’s Righteousness

v.1 “and in thy righteousness”.  God is going to “do right”, Gen 18:25.  He is not going to tell us to pray and put in writing certain prayer promises and then refuse to hear us when we pray.  That wouldn’t be right.

God is not some sort of ogre, who delights to play us like a cat batting a mouse.  He is righteous.  Deut 32:4, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he”.

God will always do the right thing, no matter what.  He will never do wrong.  He may be accused of wrongdoing, and often is, but he will never be guilty.

Conclusion: we can count on God when we pray.  His graciousness, faithfulness, and righteousness encourage us to keep praying with assurance that he hears us and he will answer.