Psalm 141-4.11.22
Scripture
Psalms 141:3-4 NIV
“Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies.”
Observation-What does it say?
In this psalm David cries out to the Lord. He prays enthusiastically to God to protect him from the evildoers around him. He prays that God guards his mouth, his actions, and his heart so he doesn’t fall trap and be like those evildoers. He would gladly accept the discipline of the godly rather than to fall into that sinful lifestyle. David prays against the wicked. He yearns for God to rid them of such rule, this way the people can see that the words that David speaks and the God he serves are just and true.
Understanding-What does it mean?
Never stoop to the level of your enemy.
Everyone knows I love superheroes and comics! And one thing a superhero always does, (whether in the comics or in the movies), is whenever they catch their enemy and they have a chance to inflict so much pain and vengeance on them for the wrongs they’ve committed, the superhero always pulls back. He or she is more or less often quoted as saying, “If I give in, I am no better than my enemy.” As a person who loves watching “revenge flicks”, I hate to admit it, but that drives me CRAZY!!! I mean the story always has a really evil villain who maybe hurts or kills the hero’s family; Or sometimes even hurts and injures lots of innocent people. The point is it really has you so mad at the bad guy, that you can’t wait for some good old fashioned “Old Testament” revenge…”an eye for an eye” to be inflicted on the bad guy. But here David, (one can argue to be the world’s first superhero, because he defeated Goliath), seeks help from God. With all the evil and sinfulness around him, David could have easily just caved into it and said, “what’s the point, no one listens to me anyways.” But he earnestly seeks the Lord. He cries out to God for strength so that he doesn’t stoop to his enemies’ level. He prays for God to be his vengeance instead of taking justice into his own hands. David trusts in God’s justice, not his own. It’s like at the end of those superhero stories where instead of the hero inflicting brutal revenge on his enemy, the hero hands them over to the cops and trusts in the justice system to do its job. So in short, be the superhero God calls us to be. Trust in Him. Not that our will be done, but His will be done.
“Don’t ever say, “I’ll pay them back for what they did to me!” Wait for the Lord. He will make things right.”-Proverbs 20:22
“See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.”-1 Thessalonians 5:15
Life Application
The superpower of prayer.
Did you know that prayer is a superpower? Prayers can change hearts, heal the sick, and change circumstances. With all the wrong that goes on in the world, we tend to bad mouth and slander our leaders. We begin to create a negative and angry culture amongst ourselves. We vent to anyone on social media who is willing to listen and if they disagree with our opinion, we “cancel” them and they become our enemies. How about if instead of doing that, we prayed for our enemies? How about if we prayed for God to reveal any hidden sins in our own hearts? Prayer can do miraculous things. And why shouldn’t it?! Its power comes from God. So let’s pray for our enemies. The Bible tells us to even love our enemies and just like the great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Love is the only power that can turn enemies into friends.”
-Moses Gaddi