Psalm 141

Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.

Prayer for Safekeeping from Wickedness

A Psalm of David.

1 LORD, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.

2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.

4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

David asks the Lord for a guard over his mouth – first, in reference to his speech (the door of his lips), and then later on in reference to what he eats. Generations later Christ would say that is it actually what comes out of our mouths that defiles us, but here (1) was in the Old Testament and before His finished work and (2) I could imagine David wanted to cover all directions – guards against evil coming in, and spoken out.

David then asks that God not allow any inclination in his heart, toward ‘any evil thing‘. Here and now, as we are generations upon generations later, past the finished work of Christ in the timeline, I’m not intimidated by these things some folks insist that we ought to be doing for ourselves or asking the Lord for… more than I am amazed, again, by the finished work of Christ.

First, because it’s timeless – Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension and His being seated at the right hand of the Father to this day unto forever, ALL that couldn’t possibly leave an impact just on the rest of the New Testament to this very day; No, I believe that the works and actions of the Maker of Time and Space transcend all boundaries of borders, including beginning and the end / past, present and future.

Second, because it’s complete – Upon seeing the preface (Prayer for Safekeeping from Wickedness) I could assume that this means protection from anything evil committed against us. But, the words of David here remind us that even before that, we ought to ask the Lord to protect us from wickedness that would invade from the inside out.

Through Christ and His finished work, we’re protected from wickedness done against us, we’re protected from doing wickedness – yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

5 Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.

6 Their judges are overthrown by the sides of the cliff, And they hear my words, for they are sweet.

7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave, As when one plows and breaks up the earth.

8 But my eyes are upon You, O GOD the Lord; In You I take refuge; Do not leave my soul destitute.

9 Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, While I escape safely.

I go through this and think, all of us go through some sort of rebuke. Nobody is exempt from the love of God, in that sense – Those of us made righteous by Christ are disciplined as preparation for our future, rebuked now in kindness; Meanwhile, those of us who have yet to believe in Christ continue to suffer the consequences of their Christless decisions… yet, through this, ALL are convicted by the Holy Spirit, called into further intimacy or outright repentance unto salvation.

And with all this in mind, I say, thank You to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – His love for us is everlasting, absolute, and, here we read and take in how His love is all-encompassing, complete and full.

Thank You, Lord, for though we find ourselves lacking or even devoid of faith at times, You remain to be faithful and true.

Thank You, Lord – I believe the same can be said about Your love. We may find ourselves lacking in love (for ourselves and/or others), but the Truth states that You love us – You absolutely love us, as a Father loves His children; And You love us with an everlasting love.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You for the reading of Your Word, yet again.

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