Fixed Eyes

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FIXED EYES

Ps 141

141:1 A psalm of David.

O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. 2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. 3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. 4 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. 5 Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers; 6 their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken. 7[They will say,] "As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave." 8 But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge — do not give me over to death. 9 Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers. 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.

NIV

Once again we have the wicked setting traps for the righteous. David’s prayer is that God will hear his prayer about watching over him and hearing his plea, his prayer. What he is asking is for God to guard his mouth, to keep watch over the door of his lips. How easy it is to be drawn into a conversation regarding ungodly things. It is our words which drag our heart toward evil and to take part in wicked deeds. We can be dragged into conversations that we should not have. Even a little off-colored joke can disrupt our representing Jesus to the world of the wicked. Gossip is another form of evil talk, words from our lips which darken our hearts. What is the worst part of gossip is when we cloak it as a prayer request, asking someone to pray for so-n-so because they are involved in doing this or that, or whatever. There are so many ways in which we can be entrapped, or snared, some are so subtle we could miss seeing them.  Let us not eat of the delicacies of the wicked. Whenever we start down a wrong path, or say something we should not be saying, let us accept that rebuke by our fellow believer. On the other hand, we too have the responsibility to rebuke our brother or sister when they are headed incorrectly, or are speaking unwisely. We need to speak the truth into each other’s lives. We also should speak wise words to the wicked, warning them of their pending disaster of being thrown down from the cliffs. It might be possible we can help keep their bones from being scattered at the mouth of the grave. Let us continue to ask God to watch our mouth, our lips and may they also be ready to give him praise and honor and a wise word for others. We need to pray he will keep our mouth from slipping into the speech of the wicked, or our heart to be drawn to their ways. Let is take his advice, not theirs. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, which means they are not fixed on the things of the world. Keep us, O Lord from their evil schemes, those traps they set for us, those snares they place before us. Let them fall into their traps and snares themselves, but O Lord let us pass by in safety. You have ordered our steps and thus we can be assured you will carry us over those snares without any harm befalling us. The key is that we must remain in you, stay put in the palm of your hand. Jesus has told us that apart from him we can do nothing. We cannot keep ourselves from those traps, only he can, so that is why we need to fix our eyes on him.