Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 143:2

Enter not into judgment with thy servant. The Divine justice has just been invoked in the first verse; and now the appellant suddenly seems to deprecate it. These verses really sum up the apparent paradox of the Book of Job (see Job 4:17 9:2,32 14:3 Job 15:14 22:4, etc.). In one breath Job frequently pours forth pathetic protestations of his innocence, and a dread lest God should take him at his word, and arraign him for trial. The godly man, in his desire to have his character vindicated before man, appeals to the just Judge, but instantly falls back with a guilty sense that before his tribunal none can stand:

"For merit lives from man to man,

And not from man, O Lord, to thee." —A. S. Aglen.