Psalm 141—Seeking Protection from Self-Deception and Evildoers

A patient faith leads us to confidently turn to the Lord. We run to God alone and to no one else. We call upon him. We yearn for him to hear us. We recognize our need most fully when we are in pain.

“O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” Psalm 141:1-2

There really is a good place for pain. But beyond the healing that pain brings, it brings us to face our need for God.

In the context of pain, our prayers are music to the ears of God. Our prayers reveal our own awareness of our need for God. As David Jeremiah has written in his book, The Great Adventure, “Prayer is my Declaration of Dependence.” Such prayer is like incense, like praise, to God.

Declare your dependence on God.

“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds…” Psalm 141:3-4

Pain delivers a moment for vigilance. Pain is unsettling and gives birth to vulnerability and distorted thinking. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Further, Proverbs 14:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Finally, James 3:10 contends, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing…” So, David is wise to distrust his own mouth and to ask God to place a guard over his lips. Pain gives rise to the tendency toward self-deception. David seeks protection from his own heart. Jesus taught us to pray, “…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13).

“Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it…” Psalm 141:5

David makes a case for community. He so distrusts his own heart that he wants God to set a guard over his mouth, and further, he desires that a righteous man strike him and rebuke him. He describes such reproof as a kindness to him.

It’s good to humble ourselves and to have people correct us. Especially during grief.

“When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.” Psalm 141:6

David seems to move in his prayer of dependence from his distrust of himself—his own brokenness—to a broader context of those who are in opposition to him. He longs for a day when others hear his words as pleasant and good. His prayer really is in the context of battle because he continues in verse seven to describe plows breaking up the ground and our bones scattered at the mouth of Sheol. These are stark and alarming descriptions. The ramifications of brokenness—all manner of pain and suffering—are real. They are not to be ignored.

“But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless! Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers!” Psalm 141:8-9

In verse one, David declared that he calls upon God. He ends this psalm where he started. He declares that his eyes are fixed on his God of refuge. He knows he is in a battle, and he pleads not to be left without protection. He asks not to be entrapped by snares of evil men, his enemies. Again, he does so with the knowledge that he, also, is his own worst enemy. He has prayed in humility for his protection even from himself.

In his temporal place of pain and dependence, he embraces a picture of the future—by faith and confidence—where evil attackers are captured by their own evil devices. In that eternal viewpoint, he knows salvation will deliver him safely home.

And you, too, have protection against evil provided by the Lord if you will only seek it.

“Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.” Psalm 141:10