Psalm 141
A Prayer for Moral Preservation of Words and Thoughts
A Prayer for Moral Preservation of Words and Thoughts
Psalm 141. As the previous Psalm was a prayer for preservation from the designs of the wicked, so this Psalm is a prayer for moral preservation of the soul from wrong words or thoughts; i.e. that the soul would be kept from joining the wicked in their ways. How important that the soul be preserve from evil without and within.
PSALM 141
A Psalm of David.
1 Jehovah, I have called upon thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I call unto thee.
2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening oblation.
vv.1-2 Asking Jehovah to Hear. The faithful call on Jehovah to hear their prayer, like the incense the rises before Him at the evening oblation. This is a reference to the continual burnt offering, which serves as the basis of God’s relationship with Israel. It is a type of the burnt-offering sacrifice of Christ, which ascends as a sweet-savor before the throne of God.
3 Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise deeds of wickedness with men that are workers of iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse: for yet my prayer also is for them in their calamities.
6 When their judges are thrown down from the rocks, they shall hear my words, for they are sweet.
vv.3-6 Asking Jehovah to Preserve. The faithful pray for preservation of their soul from wrong words or thought, that they would be kept from joining the wicked in their ways. They have a good perspective on discipline as well; that it is a kindness of the Lord to allow the righteous to smite and reprove them, so long as it preserves them from falling into the snare of the wicked. God will even uses the words of the faithful to reach some of the enemies in the day of judgment! When the judgment falls, and the leaders of the wicked are “thrown down from the rocks”, some will hear their words and repent.
7 Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
8 For unto thee, Jehovah, Lord, are mine eyes; in thee do I trust: leave not my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal pass over.
vv.7-10 Confidence in Jehovah. The faithful confess their state of utter helplessness apart from the intervention of Jehovah (v.7). But their eyes are on Jehovah, and their trust is in Jehovah. They pray for preservation from the snares of the enemy.