An Evening Prayer for Sanctification and Protection.
A Psalm of David.
141 O Lord, I call upon You; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to You!
2 May my prayer be [a]counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
3 Set a guard, O Lord, [b]over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
To practice deeds [c]of wickedness
With men who do iniquity;
And do not let me eat of their delicacies.5 Let the righteous smite me [d]in kindness and reprove me;
It is oil upon the head;
Do not let my head refuse it,
[e]For still my prayer is [f]against their wicked deeds.
6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock,
And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.
7 As when one plows and breaks open the earth,
Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of [g]Sheol.8 For my eyes are toward You, O [h]God, the Lord;
In You I take refuge; do not [i]leave me defenseless.
9 Keep me from the [j]jaws of the trap which they have set for me,
And from the snares of those who do iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
While I pass by [k]safely.
In the first part of this psalm, the psalmist expresses his desire to avoid evil. He asks God to set a guard on his mouth, and to keep his heart from more than wicked deeds. The psalmist takes it a step further and asks for protection even against the fruit of wicked work (or “their delicacies”).
What in the world does that mean? Well, if you “eat of their delicacies”, you’re probably pretty good friends, perhaps too good. Or maybe you, like I do, have the opportunity to do business with those who are profiting from wickedness, and thus profit from those deeds as well. Logistically, it may not be feasible to avoid doing business with such companies, but for me, God has drawn a line in the sand, and I dare not cross it.
As we get into the second passage though, it flips this idea around. No longer is he just avoiding evil, but actively being assaulted by the righteous, “the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me.” Have you ever heard someone say, “who are you to judge” or had someone quote, “judge not, lest you be judged…”?
If the person is not a believer, then we cannot apply our standards of living to them, that is for God to do. However, as v. 5 tells us (and this isn’t the only place), we are to hold fellow believers accountable. We are family, brothers and sisters, and to do anything less is not love. But the most difficult part is to hear and accept that correction.
It is out of kindness and love that such correction should be given, and it is in love and kindness that it should be received. Another lesson from business, if someone criticizes you, even if you think it unfair, look for an opportunity to improve. So it is in other areas of life, when we receive criticism, look to see if you have room to grow.
I know I do, and I’m sure you’ll find the same. There are still plenty of times our focus slips, and we need to fix our gaze on God, as it says in v. 8. If we hope to avoid the snares of the wicked, we cannot participate in their folly, we must accept correction graciously, and we absolutely must keep our eyes set on the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3).