Psalm 141 is a prayer to God that He will protect and rescue the author from wickedness and the pervasive evil that he sees around him. The author, David, offers up this petition as an offering to God. In verse 2 he even describes this prayer as incense – an image which we find again in Revelation chapter 18, where the prayers of the saints together rise up to God together with incense.
The central text to our Psalm though, is the one we have read here this morning – a plea to God that he would guard his mouth and his heart from that which is evil.
This is a prayer I need to pray every morning. The reality is that so many of the problems we face in life begin with what we say. A careless comment here can tear down self-esteem. A thoughtless passing on of information can destroy trust. A little white lie here can lead to a web of deceit. An angry word can break a heart.
James talks about the power of the tongue and says,
"So it is with the tongue: small as it is, it can boast about great things. Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame! And the tongue is like a fire. It is a world of wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and spreading evil through our whole being. It sets on fire the entire course of our existence with the fire that comes to it from hell itself. We humans are able to tame and have tamed all other creatures---wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish. But no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison. We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse other people, who are created in the likeness of God." (James 3:5-9)
The second part is a plea to guard his heart. Jesus tells us in Matthew 12 that it is out of the heart that the mouth speaks, thus the condition of the heart is revealed in the words we say. Bitterness, arrogance, cynicism, racism, self-pity are all revealed in the words we say. Thus in order to keep what we say pure and holy, we need to keep our hearts from wickedness too.
We live in a world where we are bombarded by coarse language and joking, where we are tempted by materialism and lust, where we are confronted with negativity and pessimism.
Into this we need to realise daily that a faithful life depends on the faithfulness of God. We need to constantly throw ourselves onto his mercy and grace to set a guard over our mouths, and protect our hearts from wickedness.
May this Psalm challenge you in your prayer life today.
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