Psalm 141
PREVAILING IN PRAYER
The Jews referred to Psalms as the “Book of Praises.” As we have mentioned before, it was the hymnal of the Jews. The word “Psalm” means a song sung to musical accompaniment. So, Psalms is, in a real sense, a wonderful book about worship, a wonderful manual for worship, but also for prayer. Psalm 141, for example, teaches us how to pray. In this psalm we see several qualities of an effective prayer. Now, prayer by definition is talking to God, communicating with the God of the universe. What an awesome thought that is! We were made in the image of God for the primary purpose of fellowship with Him. God wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to. And we do this through prayer.
I have entitled today’s lesson, “Prevailing in Prayer.” Let’s be honest – most of the time that we spend in prayer is laying out before God some need that we have. There are other aspects of prayer, but that dominates most of our prayers. Petition. It is a big part of our prayers. We want God’s wisdom in a particular matter. On our [class’s] prayer list, we have several of those. We want His direction. We want His healing. We want His power. We want His help. So, it is important to us that our prayers be successful, that we prevail in prayer. D.L. Moody wrote a well-known book entitled “Prevailing Prayer: What Hinders It.” Just out of curiosity I looked on line and found that no less than 15 books were written in the last 30 years that had either “Prevailing Prayer” or “Prevailing in Prayer” as part of the title. So, it is an important subject and it is pertinent to our lives.
We know the Bible talks a lot about prayer and about the importance of prayer. Jesus taught His own disciples how to pray. The Bible contains many examples of prayer, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Paul instructs us to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And then of course James says that “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man” – King James Version – availeth much.” The ESV (English Standard Version) says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). Here in Psalm 141, David tells us how we can prevail in our prayer lives, how our prayers can be more effective, have more power.
David, despite all of his flaws, is referred to as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). And then in Acts 7:46, he is described as one who “found favor in the sight of God.” So, despite his flaws, David is a remarkable man of God. David communicated effectively with God. He prevailed in prayer. He knew how to pray, and so, we can learn from him.
“A Psalm of David…”
READ Psalm 141:1-2
Now, we don’t know for certain what the background to this psalm is. Some scholars say it was written during the period when David was fleeing from Saul, but we really don’t know for sure. There are some hints we will get later in the psalm as to maybe what some of the circumstances were, but we do not know the specifics. What we do get from these verses is that David is burdened. There is a sense of desperation in his voice… “O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You!” David is crying out to God. There is an intensity, a passion, a sense of urgency in his tone. He needs desperately for God to hear him. David must be heard. He is crying out to God
Do your prayers have that kind of passion? Do they have that kind of urgency? Whenever you approach holy God in prayer, is there the sense that if He doesn’t come through, it won’t get done? I believe David calls out to God as his one and only hope. God is not Plan B. God is not a last resort. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” He was a man of prayer. We should not go to God as our last resort. We should be going to Him first.
As you read through a lot of David’s prayers (the psalms that he wrote), what we hear are words like this: “Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation” (Psalm 38:22); and then he says, “O Lord make haste to help me!” (Psalms 40:13, 70:1). They all have exclamation points after them – urgency here. These is a desperation in his voice. “You are my help and Deliverer, do not delay, O my God!” (Psalms 40:17 and 70:5).
[One class member commented that David’s prayers are deeply personal and you sense an intimacy in them.]
In one psalm, Psalm 69, David says, “Save me, O God!” (Psalm 69:1). That reminds me of Peter when he was out in the water: “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30). Short prayer. But he is calling upon the Lord: “God, I need your help desperately!” So, there is that sense of passion and urgency in David’s tone.
David, in v 2, is describing his prayer as incense before God. He is making a reference to the golden altar of incense where the priests would burn fragrant incense to God every morning and every evening in the Holy Place. The golden altar of incense sat in front of the curtain, the veil, that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (both in the tabernacle and then later on in the temple, the same layout). You can read about this in Exodus Chapter 30.
The incense was a symbol of the prayers and intercession of the people rising up to God as a sweet fragrance. And just as the incense was offered up to God regularly, in the same way prayer should be a regular part of our lives. Just as the burning of incense was an act of worship, something that God derived pleasure from (because He says so), so our prayers are an act of worship. By the way, this is not just an Old Testament concept. This is in the New Testament as well. Listen to these words from Revelation 5:8: “And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders [this is a scene in heaven] fell down before the Lamb [Jesus], each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” The same idea is repeated a few chapters later in Revelation 8:3-4: “And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne [notice that there is no veil – direct access to God], and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”
That is a beautiful picture, isn’t it? Our prayers as the saints of God being offered up to God as a sweet-smelling aroma. Have you ever thought about your prayer that way? To me it is a beautiful picture that we get from the Old Testament and then we see carried out in heaven. Your prayers are an act of worship in the sense that God wants to hear from you and He is pleased by this.
[One class member stated that “Prayer is not just a one-sided experience. We have gotten in the habit of telling God what to do. But we are not real comfortable with sitting and being quiet and waiting for Him to speak to us. Prayer should be a dialogue and not a monologue.”
Another member shared from a devotion book she read – letting your mind concentrate, making it “as still as a pond of water.” Whenever she prayed, she would shut all outside distraction out and picture the “calm water.” By doing this she felt she could better hear what God was trying to tell her.]
READ Psalm 141:3-4
Now we hear David making petition. And he is making petition for himself. And there is nothing wrong with that. Especially when you know that you have a problem that you are seeking God’s help with, like David did. What was David’s issue? His speech for one – v 3 “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” James 3:8 says, “no human being can tame the tongue.” We need God for that, don’t we? We cannot do it ourselves. David needed God to guard his mouth (v 3) but also his thoughts (v 4): “Do not let my heart incline to any evil.” This gets to the issue of what is on the inside, in our heart, in our mind. Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). God needs to control my mouth and my heart. God needs to control your mouths and your hearts.
But there is one other area that David knew he was vulnerable in, and that was the influence of the people around him. You know, to some degree we can control who we are around, who are friends are and who we hang out with. But sometimes we cannot control who we are around; like when we go out into our everyday lives, who we are forced to associate with on the job or even at church. You cannot control that. And David, out of necessity (due to his high-profile position), had to associate with all sorts of people, some good and some bad. And people can have an influence on us, can’t they? Good or bad.
I have a confession to make. Before I joined the Air Force, I might curse once and a while, just because I was a kid or whatever. I would get frustrated and I would say words I should not. But I was raised in a strict home environment watching my mouth and what I said. I joined the Air Force and all of a sudden, I was around some people who literally could not complete a sentence without a curse word. I was around that for four years and to this day I struggle in that area. They had that kind of influence on me. I have had to ask the Lord many times to help me. People can influence us, good or bad. David knew that.
He says in his request, basically, “Don’t let me be influenced to do evil.” This verse down here, v 4, really reminds me a lot of that part of the Model Prayer that Jesus taught where He says, “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking God to help us where we know we are weak and where we might be tempted, areas in which we struggle. For each one of us that might be something different. This is it for David. These are his areas. These are ones that were on his heart.
And then that last phrase is interesting, isn’t it? “Let me not eat of their delicacies.” This refers to the temptations that the world offers. As that song says, “All the vain things that charm me most.” A major part of our prayer life should be to seek God’s protection from ourselves, from those areas where we are most susceptible to Satan’s snares. If we DO sin, we can confess our sins, we can be cleansed and have our fellowship with God restored. That is great, but are we not better off if we do not sin at all than to have to come to God and be restored? Isn’t it better if we ask God, “Help me not to sin at all”? That is what David is doing here. Just be honest with God and ask Him to help you in those areas where you struggle the most.
Andrew Murray has this quote and I think he said it best: “Sometime prayer changes me more than it changes the circumstances.” There is a lot of truth to that.
[Reminder that chapter and verse divisions are not inspired. The last sentence in v 5, “Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds,” really connects better with verses 6 and 7]
READ Psalm 141:5
What David is saying in this verse is, “Lord, whatever it takes to cause me to be more godly, more in line with your will, send it my way, even if it is unpleasant.” That’s not an easy thing to pray. Sometimes I need a harsh rebuke. My wife and I were talking about this on the way to church today. We were talking about the words that we say and the rebukes of people. I need to be rebuked. I need to be “struck,” as it were, by a righteous man, like David mentions here. It is a kindness. It is a good thing. Often, we need to hear that tough word, that reproof from a friend, or a spouse, a boss, a pastor’s message. “Lord, help me to hear it and accept it where it applies in my life.” That is what David is praying. “Make me teachable. Let my head not refuse it.”
Proverbs 15:31 says, “The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.” Proverbs 17:10: “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.” We grow, we mature, we become wiser as we prayerfully consider the reproof of others. You know what? They might be right. It is hard to hear words of criticism and reproof and rebuke, isn’t it? But hear it (receive it) as, “Maybe this is what I need to hear.” Consider it prayerfully. “God, is this for me? Does it apply to me?”
Another thing David says in this verse is, “It is oil for my head” – it is what I need. It is spiritual refreshment. David prays that God will make him the man of God he needs to be. Even if it means harsh words from friends and from those around him.
[One class member made the following comment: “The longer you live, you truly do welcome that (rebuke) because it brings inner peace in your heart. You come to recognize what you are doing is wrong so that you do not do it again. It is not condemnation. But it is consequences.”]
My wife and I were talking about this and how I had a boss who was a tough boss. And she did too. We would get criticized at our jobs at various times in our careers and it was not easy. It was hard to hear. But you know what? Looking back on it now, we appreciate the words that they said because it helped us become better employees and to learn more (we became better at our jobs). As opposed to having bosses who are always smiling, always nice and never say anything. You do not learn and you end up not doing well on your job! They would not say anything to you because they did not want to hurt your feelings.
David continues… “Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds” (the end of v 5).
READ Psalm 141:6-7
Wow! That is tough! What is all of that saying? It is a difficult passage to understand. Believe me, studying this not all of the commentaries were in agreement.
David here is praying with spiritual discernment against the wicked deeds of those who are seeking to cause harm. I am sure that he has something (or someone) specific in mind. This is what we call an “imprecatory” psalm. Do you know what that is? It is a psalm calling upon God to curse or judge the evildoer. And David knew a whole bunch of those! He had a lot of enemies and most of his enemies were the enemies of God. So, David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, pens these imprecatory psalms – Psalms 7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 140, just to name a few. Listen to one of these – Psalm 109 is a classic. David has some false accusers and this is what he prays (to God): “May his days be few; may another take his office! May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow! May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!” He is praying bad things on this guy and his family. Here in Psalm 141 David prays specifically that the leaders of evil be destroyed. V 6, “thrown over the cliff.” That is pretty severe, isn’t it? David prays that God will restrain the evildoers. David knows that he cannot do it himself. He may not even be aware of all that is happening or even who all the bad guys are – but God knows. As the leader of God’s people, David prays that God will intervene and deal with them (these enemies of his and enemies of God) as God sees fit.
[One class member made an interesting point, that if the enemies of God are not my enemies, then I need to evaluate my life.]
Look, we need to pray this same way against evil in our world, against those we know are open enemies of God. Why not? Why not pray that God restrain them? I know that during World War II there were all kinds of Christians praying that God would get Hitler. And He did! There is nothing wrong with knowing someone is the enemy of God and praying, “God, You deal with them! You judge them!”
Now, v 7 is difficult. David, as he is praying about the evil being plotted against him, people trying to set a trap for him (we will see this in the next few verses), he feels like he is close to death. David feels a bit overwhelmed by that. He feels overwhelmed by his own mortality. “Hey, God, I could die at any time!” David asks God to deal with these people (his and God’s enemies), whoever they are, as God sees fit.
[A class comment pointed out that Sheol, in v 7, refers to the Old Testament place of the dead, “Our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”]
David, being a warrior, there is no doubt he saw the dead bodies in the fields, the bones rotting out. And maybe this is what he has on his mind about what might happen. There is definitely some vivid language there relating to death.
READ Psalm 141:8
David has some pretty negative circumstances, but where is his focus? Squarely on God. “My eyes are toward you, O GOD.” His focus is on God. He is well aware of the circumstances. He has given those to God. His focus is on God. He is not focusing on all that is going on around him. He could easily be overwhelmed just like we could, right? He is fully trusting in God, relying on Him. It is in God that David takes refuge. That is basically what he says. “Leave me not defenseless!” “God, don’t leave me vulnerable to my enemies!”
Verses 9-10 offer us a strong clue as to some of the specific circumstances surrounding David’s prayer:
READ Psalm 141:9-10
There are apparently some people out there (whoever they were) who are plotting against David. It could have been Saul. Who knows? He had a number of enemies. And then David asks God to protect him from those people. “Let their evil plots backfire on them.” This is basically what he is saying. “Let them reap what they sow. Let them fall into their own traps.”
As I read this, two examples from the Old Testament came to my mind. I could not help but think about the book of Daniel. Remember those people that schemed against Daniel? They made this rule that if you bow down to anyone else except the king that you would be thrown into the lion’s den. They tricked the king into signing this decree and Daniel gets thrown into the lion’s den. Well, what happened? Daniel gets thrown in and the lions do not hurt him, which is a miracle. I also thought about the story in the book of Esther with Haman and Mordecai. Here is Haman, evil Haman who has this plot to kill Mordecai, who is a righteous man (Esther’s uncle). Their schemes backfired on them – both the enemies of Daniel as well as Haman. And what ends up happening? Those enemies of Daniel get tossed into the lion’s den and it is a horrible, gruesome scene (Daniel 6:24). And Haman gets hung on his own gallows (Esther 7:10).
The judgment of God. It was very effective, wasn’t it? God was able to deal with His enemies, wasn’t He? The enemies, the people that went against His righteous servants, God dealt with them. And this is what David is praying – “Let them, basically, fall into their own traps.” And that is what happened in both of those cases.
In closing, we can learn a lot about prevailing in prayer from David. You pray with a sense of urgency, completely depending on God. Pray understanding that God really DOES want to hear from you and from me. Pray with the full knowledge that we are all sinners saved by grace. And then ask God to set a guard over your mouth, in your thoughts and your actions. Ask Him to protect you from yourself. Restrain you from the influence of the evil that surrounds you. Ask Him to do whatever it takes for you (this is also my prayer for myself) to be yielded to His will for your life. Be discerning, but pray against evil.
There is no set formula for prayer. Yes, we talk about the Lord’s Prayer (the Model Prayer), We are all unique individuals. So, when you pray you go boldly before the throne of grace and you be yourself. This is David. This is his personality coming out in his prayer. I might not pray exactly like this. My prayers might sound a little different. Be yourself. Be honest with God. You first begin by confessing your sins. You have to get right with God if there is sin to be confessed. Then you pray humbly. Realize who YOU are and who HE is. Pray honestly but expectantly. As God brings needs into your mind and the various issues and problems, pray about them. Talk to God about them. He wants to hear from you! Whether it be in troubled times, heavy burdened, or in the good times, when things are good. He still wants to hear from you. Do you understand that? That is part of your worship, your prayers to God.
[One class member pointed out that in both the cases of Daniel and Mordecai prayer played an important role in what eventually happened.]
We have to sing a song about prayer. This song is my wife’s favorite song. It is a song about prayer – “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.” It is a song about taking our burdens to the Lord and how He hears us…
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.