Psalm 141/Commentary

No Compromise Psalm 141

The Desire for Pure Prayer: 141:1-2 “May my prayer be counted as incense before You; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering” “Verse 1 shows how sharply this piety is under trial, and the rest of the psalm will enlarge on it. This is no cloistered situation” (Psalms 73-150, Derek Kidner, p.

470). From the above verse it is clear that David understood quite a bit about the subject of prayer:  He understood that prayer was literally speaking to God, not some sort of ritual. Our prayers come to the very throne of God, they are heard by God Himself; they actually come into His presence (Revelation 5:7 “And golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints”).  David knew that God delights in the prayers of His people and views such prayers as a fragrant aroma--- something that pleases the senses, smells wonderful, is a reminder of fond memories, and reminds one of a devoted lover (Proverbs 15:8 “But the prayer of the upright is His delight”).  “Verse 2 is a keen insight into the spiritual understanding of the most enlightened of the Old Testament saints, all of whom understood the spirit of the worshipper to be the essence of the sacrifice” (Psalms 107-150, James Montgomery Boice, p. 1224).  Thus the “spirit” of our worship (John 4:24) needs to be that of a genuine and devoted love (1 Corinthians 13:1ff). God desires to be worshipped by the person who cannot wait to talk to God in prayer, who longs for the opportunity, and who deliberately makes time for such.

 David equally wanted to offer the most affectionate and earnest prayer that he could offer. Just like a lover who desires to put the most ardent intentions of their heart into a love letter.  Sometimes after praying we should stand back, reexamine the prayer we just offered, and say to ourselves, “Was that incense?”

Plain Loyalty: 141:3-6 “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips”.

These verses contain the essence of David’s prayer. “David wanted purity most. Purity was a natural idea to follow the comparison of evening prayer to incense, since everyone in David’s day understood that the temple incense had to be utterly pure and meticulously prepared” (Boice pp. 1224-1225).

David earnestly wants to gain control of his speech for he realizes the harm that can come from an uncontrolled tongue (see James 3). Kidner notes that the Temple had its doorkeepers and guards, how much more the man of God. Consider for a moment that the first area of temptation that David mentions is the misuse of the tongue. We might be tempted to place sins of the tongue far down on the list of priorities, yet David knew that working on everything else will be to no avail if we don’t learn to be wise and kind in our speech.

“Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness”.

This sounds a lot like Jesus’ statement, “Do not lead us into temptation” (Matthew 6:13). The word incline is not a request for God to just “take over complete control” of David’s life and remove David’s freewill. David knows that he must cooperate with God, yet he equally knows that God offers the only incentives and reasons why avoiding temptation makes any sense. David has also seen the damage that is done when the heart is allowed to fantasize about temptation and linger far too long (2 Samuel 11). He knows that evil deeds come from a heart that is callous or careless. In order to make this prayer a reality one must be willing to entrust to God the very first inclinations of one’s heart and feelings and allow His standards to govern one’s mental and emotional life. There can be no respect of persons in their realm. All mental temptations must be ruthlessly executed, we must not adjust His parental controls and allow certain or favorite temptations a longer stay. “With the humility of a plea and the clarity of a renunciation—for one cannot pray it with either complacency or reservations” (Kidner p. 471).

“With men who do iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies”.

“To eat of their delicacies implied a much closer bond of friendship than it necessarily would in our society. David’s fears were for his loyalty’ and the threat of this was real enough. C.S. Lewis describes this type of situation: “There is a subtle play of looks and tones and laughs as those to whom he is speaking.

He will assume, at first only by his manner, but presently by his words, all sorts of cynical and skeptical attitudes which are not really his. But—they may become his. All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be” (Kidner p.

471).  David was an extremely strong man, very close to God and yet he knew that he could be pulled by the wrong crowd into sin if he was not careful.

He wasn’t “too good” for sinners, rather he was “too much like them” to be able to afford such associations. Paul had the same attitude (1 Corinthians 15:33).  Lewis’ comment about “becoming what we are pretending to be” is absolutely true. Often the temptation is that we can pretend to be worldly, that is, dress in a worldly manner or adopt the attitudes or language of the world, without actually becoming caught up in the world.  David is not saying that we should avoid all contact with sinners, for sinners do need God’s truth (Matthew 9:12), yet there is a big different between trying to reach the lost with the gospel (Luke 15:1) and spending time with people who want to learn more and trying to fit in with a group of people who have no interest in changing but who are gradually changing our standards.

There are some red flags that we are getting drawn in:      

We start laughing at their immoral comments or jokes.

We start sharing their prejudices.

We only talk about topics that they find interesting.

They are vocal about their false convictions and we remain silent.

Fitting in at the moment is more important being God’s friend.

We start accepting their lower standards and excuses.

Friendly Fire: 141:5 “Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; it is oil upon the head; do not let my head refuse it”

This verse reminds me of Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend”.

Notice the combination of the terms smite and kindness. Reproof can be done in a way that is edifying, encouraging, motivational and kind.  We can say something like, “You are doing so many things right, yet there is one area I would like to discuss with you”.  I might say, “If I really did not care about you I would not bring it up”.  Or, “You know I love you and always want the best for you, that is why I want to bring the following to your attention”.

Notice that David is asking God to allow the righteous to smite and reprove him, “let”. David does not want godly men remaining silent when he is about to make a big mistake. The connection of this verse with the context is that the reproofs of the righteous is another way in which God helps us remain faithful.

One of the best defenses against temptation or falling away is being part of a strong godly congregation (1 Thessalonians 5:14; Hebrews 10:24). I know that it is hard to accept correction, easily when it seems that such correction is frequent, yet if you have friendships in your life that result in honest communication, including honest correction, then you are blessed. The temptation is to flee from such honest relationships because they are too honest, yet fleeing only results in a lack of spiritual growth. Like David, we need to view rebuke or straight advice as “oil upon my heart”, that is, as something that will refresh me and only add beauty into my life. I have found that people who have adopted the attitude, “No one is going to tell me what to do” become extremely ugly on the inside.

It’s a Dangerous World Out There: 141:8-10 “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely”.

David had certainly avoided many traps. He had spent years hiding from Saul and he had also narrowly avoided being overtaken and murdered by Absalom. Yet these were not the only nets that he had avoided over the years.

David knows that his journey is not over and that the anger of his enemies still exists, yet he has the confidence that with God he will avoid many a net. As this Psalm ends this last line could be viewed as a prayer right before David goes back into the world. David leaves prayer refocused on God. Yes snares have been set by the wicked all around him, but with a focus upon God and placing our trust in His plan, we will be able to walk safely through many dangers and temptations.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017 www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com