Psalm 141

As I strive to have a better quality prayer life, this psalm really impacted me this morning.  David doesn’t just want God’s help, he wants to have a pure heart that honors God.  This is why he uses the example of his prayers being like incense.  Now, without proper understanding of the use of incense in the temple, this imagery is quite meaningless to us.  I was going to write a whole post on where this concept comes from and how it relates, but someone else already did that at gotquestions.org, so I will just share it here and move on.  However, the main point (in case you only feel like reading one article today instead of two), is that prayer is an act of worship!  Sometimes, I struggle with the concept that God knows what I am going to pray before I even pray it, so then what is the point?  Previously, I have mentioned that it helps us build our intimacy with the Lord, but also, it is a way for us to honor God.  Whether He answers them or not, is His purview.  If we look at prayer as though, “what’s the point, they won’t be answered anyway,” then we are missing the purpose of prayer.  It is not so we can get what we want, it is so God can be honored and glorified!  Let that sink in for a moment.  

Prayer isn’t about us, it is about Him.

Then we get to verse 4, and my head tends to tilt like a confused puppy dog, just as it does in the middle of the Lord’s prayer.  David says, “do not incline my heart to any evil thing.”  Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, “lead us not into temptation.”  That’s a curious thing, isn’t it?  It’s an assumption that God could or would.  Haven’t you ever found that to be odd?

In James 1:13, he states that God does not tempt us to sin.  So then, why is there this petition to not lead us or incline us to sin, as if He ever would?  Well, my curiosity of language led me to dig deeper.  When it comes to translation, it isn’t just about the words used, but also the understanding of what it is trying to say.  When David and Jesus say these phrases, it isn’t with an assumption that God could lead us into evil or temptation, but rather it is a request for God to lead us away from them.  David’s line could be said, “incline my heart away from any evil thing,” and likewise, Jesus’ words could say, “keep us from any temptation.”  I certainly am not a bible scholar by any means, so I will not attempt to “correct” what has been translated.  However, it is important for us to understand why it is translated in a form that can be deceiving and easily misunderstood.  I believe it is written this way to highlight with extreme importance that they do not want to be led to evil or tempted.

Consider it this way.  They could have said the petition as I mentioned above, and that would have been “adequate,” but instead, this pleading for God to not even lead us in that direction highlights the importance of staying away from sin.  It’s like saying:

“Lord, I know you would never lead me into sin, but even if you would for some reason I don’t understand, I request that You don’t, because that would be so dishonoring to You and unhealthy for me.  So, I am pleading that above Your own will, I want to stay away from sin as far as possible so that I can honor You.”

It is an extreme form of speaking to God, a petition that honors Him far beyond us keeping from sin, revealing the heart orientation of the speaker.  In Psalm 141:8-10, David digs deeper into this sentiment.  Prayer is about revealing and reinforcing our heart condition to God.  It is about us understanding where we are at, asking God to course correct us if necessary, and keeping us aligned with Him.

How is your heart orientation today?