Psalm Meditation 303

Easter

April 16, 2006

Psalm 141

1 I call upon you, O LORD; come quickly to me; give ear to my voice when I call to you.

2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.

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

4 Do not turn my heart to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with those who work iniquity; do not let me eat of their delicacies.

5 Let the righteous strike me; let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head, for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.

6 When they are given over to those who shall condemn them, then they shall learn that my words were pleasant.

7 Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters on the land, so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.

8 But my eyes are turned toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; do not leave me defenseless.

9 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me, and from the snares of evildoers.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I alone escape.

(NRSV)

I am convinced that most people see themselves as good people and can rationalize all that they do as mostly good. This psalm reminds us that we do need to be reminded what is good so that we can do the good while avoiding evil. It is not a common prayer that righteous people strike us and faithful people correct us. It is so much easier to convince ourselves that what we are doing is good than to be disciplined and corrected toward goodness. In the long view of things avoiding evil is more fulfilling than rationalizing it away.

Once we “let the oil of the wicked anoint my head,” we fall into bad habits that lead to evil habits. Once we begin to slide down that slope of ever increasing sin and evil the words of righteous folk sound less and less pleasant. Righteous words begin to sound judgmental or sickly sweet; words that can be easily ignored. We do not hear the love in righteous words until we have broken ourselves on rock bottom.

It is easier to stay connected to God than to reconnect with God, however both are possible. When we allow ourselves the humility of being taught by those who are faithful we turn our eyes toward God. The farther we have fallen away from God the harder it is to make the climb back into God’s presence. The good news is that God is always defending us, looking out for us and reaching out to us. When we reach out to God we will find that God’s hand is already there waiting to grab us and let all our wicked ways fall back down the slope where we found them.

LCM