Psalm 141

Spiritual Strength

comes from growing mature in Christ.

Psalm 141

is a psalm

for those who want

to grow

more spiritually mature.

This page is written for personal Bible study

and for

Bible study groups to use.

Let's Grow

STRONG

in Christ!

For this Psalm page,

I am going to use the New Living Bible.

Verse 1

O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!

Listen when I cry to you for help!

* * *

The first thing David does in this psalm

is model for us

that it is O.K.

to

come to God in prayer asking for help

AND

respectfully

asking him to hurry!

Hurry!

David also says in Psalm 70:

Rescue me, O God!

Lord, hurry to my aid!

Psalm 70:1 TLB

~ ~ ~

David also says in Psalm 31:

Answer quickly when I cry to you;

bend low and hear my whispered plea.

Be for me

a great Rock of safety from my foes.

Psalm 31:2 TLB

God allows us to respectfully say,

"Hurry up, God!"

Think about the amazing humbleness of God

that he not only allows us

- but that he suggests to us -

that we tell him to Hurry up!

We can say:

"God, be quick to hear my prayer and act on my prayer!"

"God, hurry and release your power to help me."

"God, put me at the top of your 'to do' list."

But...

we must realize that

God may decide to make us wait.

There are many reasons why God may be

"what we perceive as > > slow."

For example:

Waiting is a part of the maturing process

of a Christian.

Consider our page:

Waiting like a Champion

Verse 2

2 Accept my prayer

as incense offered to you,

    and my upraised hands as an evening offering.

The word "incense"

gives us thoughts of a sweet-smelling aroma.

Revelation 5:8

seems to link prayer with the idea of incense.

In Psalm 141:2,

David tells us that he wants his prayers
to be
incense to God - meaning - pleasing to God. 

He wants to pray in a way that pleases God.

Incense were given in the temple in a regular, daily manner.

So this verse teaches the idea of daily prayer.

See also - Exodus  30:7-9 and Malachi 1:11

 Raising Hands to God

There are many reasons to raise our hands to God.

It may be to honor God.

It may be to show submission to God.

It may be to show we want to be close to God.

I like to think about the following:

When children want to be close to a parent,

they will walk up to a parent

and hold their hands up.

This shows

that the child wants to be

close (or closer) to a parent.

It generally indicates a desire for closeness, touch, and nearness.

It is a desire to experience more feelings of

love, security, and protection.

Holding hands up usually indicates

that a child

wants nothing between himself and the one he loves.

David says in Psalm 63:4

I will bless you as long as I live,

lifting up my hands

to you in prayer.

Psalm 63:4 TLB

Also see: 1 Timothy 2:8, Psalm 134:2For a little Christian humor about hand raising click: Hands up

Verse 3

3 Take control of what I say, O Lord,

    and

guard my lips.

This verse is a short prayer

that would be a

wise choice

for a prayer

that we pray often.

As we pray this verse,

we are actually asking God

to whisper to us

when we are about to say something

we shouldn't say

AND

we are implying

that we will listen to God and be quiet

when we hear God nudging us

to be quiet.

Also note that

if we often ignore

the voice of God in an area of our life,

he will

- at some point -

quit talking to us about that area.

That SHOULD make us shake in our boots.

When God quits talking to us about a vital area

in our life,

we are headed for terrible trouble.

David practically begs us

to

wisely ask

God for help

AND

listen and act

when God speaks.

Take Note

We have a separate page about this verse:

Psalm 141:3-

Verse 4

4 Don’t let me drift toward evil

    or

take part in acts of wickedness.

Don’t let me share

in the delicacies

    of those

who do wrong.

Here David shows that he has become wise enough
to realize
that the path of
progression into evil
is
generally slow, deceptive, and usually almost imperceptible.

Often we don't realize

that we are

drifting toward bad things.

-

Usually

it is only

by trying to follow

the Bible

-  and staying teachable -

that we are guided away from the easy progression

toward

living for self  instead of  living for God.

-

Here is a helpful Scripture:

Avoid even the appearance of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

Obeying the above verse

will protect us from all kinds of trouble.

David said he does not want to 

"feast on wicked delicacies."

~

David is also reminding himself (and us)

that evil sends out

signals of temptations

that our flesh finds delicious.

~

David wisely asks God to

wake him up

from spiritual slumber

if

some kind of temptation

is lulling

him toward sin.

David wants to choose right things

but he knows

that sometimes

the devil will either distract us, or tempt us

when we are tired,

and

he can disguise his temptations

as something good

if we are not wise and alert.

So...

David is praying for God to alert him

when danger is near.

Despise God's Word

and

find yourself in trouble.

Obey it and Succeed.

Proverbs 13:13 TLB

Verse 5

5 Let the godly strike me!

    It will be a kindness!

If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.

    Don’t let me refuse it.

But I pray constantly

    against the wicked and their deeds.

"Let the godly strike me"

What does that mean?

It means,

"Let the godly point out what I am doing wrong."

The Amplified Bible of this verse is:

Let the righteous

[thoughtfully] strike (correct) me —

it is a kindness

[done to encourage my spiritual maturity].

Psalm 141:5a ERV version says:

If good people correct me,
    I will consider it a good thing.

The words "strike me"

remind us

that the correction may not feel good.

Proverbs 15:31-32 TLB  says -

If you profit from constructive criticism,

you will be elected to the wise men's hall of fame.

But to reject criticism

is to

harm yourself

and your own best interests.

-

Correction doesn't feel Good

We may feel hurt or ashamed at the words

that are spoken to us.

But David reminds us that it is better to have painful

words

rather than to

continue to ignore

God whispering to us about

a harmful situation / a sinful situation.

David is showing us spiritual maturity -

He doesn't get offended

when he hears the truth about himself.

-

Do you get offended

when you hear truth about yourself?

-

Do you find yourself using the words

"Judge not"

in order to get people to leave you alone?

-

The "Judge not" verse is misunderstood because it is not carefully read.

Click below to find out what God is really saying:

Understanding  Judging   from God's view

In this Psalm 141 verse, David teaches us to

ASK

God to convict us

and in verse 5,

David teaches us to

even

ASK

God to send people to

 - correct us and point out our wrong - 

if we need it.

That request

shows

wisdom and maturity.

This Psalm is teaching us

what godly maturity looks like.

- -

Consider our prayer for maturity

at the bottom of the page

- -

We are supposed to imitate David

and become mature.

Take Note:

Psalm 141  is not written to make us feel comfortable.

It is written

to make us feel convicted so we can grow.

This Psalm is written to spur us

toward maturity in the Lord.

Think  of  a  spur  on  cowboy  boots.

---

What does this mean -

"Oil for my head"

David was anointed with oil by Samuel to be king.

Anointing with oil

was a sign of honor.

So...

if wise, godly people rebuked David,

he would see it as being honored.

Below are

Valuable Verses

Proverbs 9:8 TLB says -

But a wise man when rebuked,

will love you all the more.

*

Proverbs 12:15 TLB says -

A fool thinks he needs no advice,

but a wise man listens to others.

*

Proverbs 15:14 TLB says -

A wise man is hungry for truth,

while the mocker feeds on trash.

*

See also

Proverbs 10:17

Galatians 6:1 TLB says - 

Dear Brothers,
if a Christian
is
overcome by some sin,
you who are godly
should
gently and humbly
help him back onto the right path.

See also James 5:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:24-26, 2 Timothy 4:1-4

We conclude the discussion

of verse 5

with the following verse:

Learn as you go along what pleases the Lord.

Take no part

in the worthless pleasures of evil and darkness,

but instead,

rebuke and expose them.

Ephesians 5:10-11 TLB

Verse 6

6 When their leaders are

thrown down from a cliff,

    the wicked will

listen to my words and find them true.

In verse 6, David talks about the wicked.

This verse highlights a common form of execution back in those days.

David says that

the

- wicked rulers, the bad judges, the bad leaders -

will one day get their just punishment

- and then -

  the people

will see

the wisdom of what David is saying to them.

Verse 7

7 Like rocks brought up by a plow,

    the bones of the wicked

will lie scattered without burial.

The Holy Land is very rocky.

~

So a new farmer breaking up new land

will unearth lots of rocks.

This verse seems to be saying that

David feels that

all the rocks lying around

in the heat of the sun in a newly worked field

is similar to

the victims of unjust judges, leaders, & rulers.

Reading this psalm in Hebrew,

it is clear that

the bones are scattered

at the mouth of Sheol.

This verse uses the Hebrew word "Sheol"
which is Strong's Hebrew word # 7585.

In the Old Testament,

the name of the place

where the souls of the dead go

is

Sheol.

So...

They are scattered at the mouth of the place of the dead.

-

It appears that David is saying that the ungodly leaders have lead the people to the place of the dead.

So...

The ungodly leaders have lead people

to harmful, dead, unproductive things.

In conclusion of verses 6 and 7...

When people see that

the people and or things

that they have put their trust in

- have been destroyed -

then the people will turn away from

these ungodly "heroes."

Verse 8

8 I look to you for help,

O Sovereign Lord.

    You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.

Here David seeks refuge and strength

through his relationship with God.

And he is teaching us to do the same thing.

David also said

in

Psalm 18:

The LORD is my rock,

and my fortress, and my deliverer ;

my God, my strength,

in whom I will trust;

my buckler,

and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psalm 18:2 KJV

Verse 9

9 Keep me from the traps

they have set for me,

    from the snares of those who do wrong.

Snares are usually things

that you step into and get caught

and then

have trouble escaping.

Many types of sins

- such as drug addiction & sexual sins & unforgiveness -

grab us quickly and hold us tight.

-

The Bible tells us that

the devil is like a roaring lion

who is seeking those he can devour.

-

We are wise to remember that

worldly temptations

seek to draw us into a snare of the devil.

-

If we want to be

FREE

of the devil's snares,

we can find help

by praying the following verse often:

Here is God's POWER Verse:

Submit yourself to the Lord

and

resist the devil

and

he will flee from you.

James 4:7

-

See our Champion page called - James 4:7

  In the following prayer,

we focus on the words:

Submit yourself to the Lord

Dear Lord,

I need to submit to your will.

I need to lay down,

and walk away,

from the things

in my life

that do not line up with your biblical truth.

I need to conquer myself.

I need to use wisdom when making godly decisions.

I need to use self-control

in order to follow you closely.

Help me, Lord.

I am determined to learn to yield to your will.

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen

Copyright © 2016 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

Another verse to consider:

Wise people see trouble coming

and get out of its way,

but fools go straight to it and suffer for it.

Proverbs 22:3 ERV

See also our pages:

Submit to God

Bible Wisdom

Verse 10

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

    but let me escape.

Psalm 9 helps us understand this verse.

Psalm 9 explains:

The nations fall into the pitfalls

they have dug for others;

the trap they set has snapped on them.

The Lord is famous for the way

he punishes the wicked in their own snares!

Psalm 9:15-16 TLB

*

Note that -

The demonic forces try to stir up pride because -

Proverbs 16:18

explains that

Pride goes before a fall.

-

So...

Psalm 141 verse 10

reminds us that

God will eventually give consequences

to the wicked.

AND in this Psalm

David is praying...

Even when I foolishly sin and get caught

in the trap or snare of the devil,

let me escape.

Show me the way out.

~ ~ ~

Many times the way out

involves US getting tough with ourselves

and

stirring up

self-control and determination and zeal

for God's righteousness

to be displayed in our life.

-

Note:

If you want to work on your

"self-control"

consider spending time with God early in the day!

Consider our pages:

Morning Prayer for Champions

Power Armor Prayer for Men

Power Armor Prayer for Women

Prayer for Maturity

Dear Lord,

I  will listen for your voice

with a heart

ready to change anything

that doesn't line up with your Bible words.

I intentionally

direct my heart to seek you this day.

I intentionally

direct my mind to think

thoughts of dedication to you.

I intentionally

direct

my will

to be steadfast

in standing for you and with you this day.

I pray these things in Jesus’ name,

Amen

Copyright © 2018 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

For more pages about the Psalms,

click HERE

Jump to the top of Psalm 141