Lord, I cry unto Thee. Psalm 141 An invocation for the truly desirable in human life: Homilist. I. DIVINE ATTENTION TO HUMAN ASPIRATIONS (vers. 1, 2). 1. For immediate attention. 2. For favourable attention. II. A COMPLETE GUARDIANSHIP FROM WRONG IN LIFE (vers. 3, 4). 1. He prays against Wrong in words. Who shall tell the evils that flow in the world every day from unguarded speech? "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity." 2. He prays against wrong in practice. (1) Let my heart not be inclined to practise wicked works with wicked men. (2) Let it not be inclined to participate in the pleasures of wicked men. III. A READINESS TO RECEIVE RIGHTEOUS REPROOFS (ver. 5). What greater necessity have all than the society of men who shall reprove, rebuke, exhort? IV. THE MAINTENANCE OF A DEVOUT AND BELIEVING SOUL IN THE MIDST OF OUR ENEMIES (vers. 6, 7). 1. Devotion. 2. Confidences — (1) In the success of his teaching. (2) In the subjugation of his enemies. V. ULTIMATE DELIVERANCE FROM ALL ENEMIES (vers. 8-10). ( Homilist. ) Let my prayer be... as incense. Psalm 141:2 The incense of prayer A. Maclaren, D. D. Throughout the Old Testament you find side by side these two trends of thought — a scrupulous carefulness for the observance of all the requirements of ritual worship, and a clear-eyed recognition that it was all external and symbolical and prophetic. I. THE INCENSE OF PRAYER. The temple was divided into three courts, the outer court, the holy place, and the holiest of all. The altar of incense stood in the second of these, the holy place; the altar of burnt offering stood in the court without. It was not until that altar, with its expiatory sacrifice, had been passed that one could enter into the holy place, where the altar of incense stood. There were three pieces of furniture in that place, the altar of incense, the golden candlestick, and the table of the shewbread. Of these three, the altar of incense stood in the centre. Twice a day the incense was kindled upon it by a priest, by means of live coals brought from the altar of burnt offering in the outer court. And, thus kindled, the wreaths of fragrant smoke ascended on high. All day long the incense smouldered upon the altar; twice a day it was kindled into a bright flame. I need not dwell upon the careful and sedulous preparation from pure spices which went to the making of the incense. So we have to prepare ourselves by sedulous purity if there is to be any life or power in our devotions. But I pass from that, and ask you to think of the lovely picture of true devoutness given in that inflamed incense, wreathing in coils of fragrance up to the heavens. Prayer is more than petition. It is the going up of the whole soul towards God. Do you realize that, just in the measure in which we set our minds as well as our affections, and our affections as well as our minds, on the things which are above, just to that extent, and not one hair's breadth further, have we the right to call ourselves Christians at all? Remember, too, that the incense lay dead, unfragrant, and with no capacity of soaring, till it was kindled; that is to say, unless there is a flame in my heart there will be no rising of my aspirations to God. Cold prayers do not go up more than a foot or two above the ground; they have no power to soar. There must be the inflaming before there can be the mounting of the aspiration. It is because we are habitually such tepid Christians that we are so tongue-tied in prayer. Where was the incense kindled from? From coals brought from the altar of burnt offering in the outer court; that is to say, light the fire in your heart with a coal brought from Christ's sacrifice, and then it will flame; and only then will love well upwards and desires be set on the things above. II. THE SACRIFICE OF THE EMPTY-HANDED. What is implied in likening the uplifted empty hands to the evening sacrifice? First, it is a confession of impotent emptiness, a lifting up of expectant hands to be filled with the gift from God. And, says this psalmist, "because I bring nothing in my hand, Thou dost accept that, as if I came laden with offerings." That is just a picturesque way of putting a familiar, threadbare truth, which, threadbare as it is, needs to be laid to heart a great deal more by us, that our true worship, and truest honour of God, lies not in giving but in taking. In our service we do not need to bring any merit of our own. This great principle destroys not only the gross externalities of heathen sacrifice, and the notion that worship is a duty, but it destroys the other notion of our having to bring anything to deserve God's gifts. And so it is an encouragement to us when we feel ourselves what we are, and what we should always feel ourselves to be, empty-handed, coming to Him not only with hearts that aspire like incense, but with petitions that confess our need, and cast ourselves upon His grace. See that you desire what God wishes to give; see that you go to Him for what He does give. See that you give to Him the only thing that He does wish, or that it lies in your power to give, and that is yourself. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) The twofold aspect of prayer Dean Goulburn. : — Prayer is designed not only to be serviceable to man, but honourable God. It is a tax (redounding indeed with unspeakable benefits to the tax-payer, but still a tax) laid upon our time; just as almsgiving is a tax laid upon our substance; and if we would render unto God the things that are God's, the tribute-money must be faithfully and punctually paid. 1. Think of yourself before you kneel down, not simply as a suppliant for help, but as a priest addressing himself to offer sacrifice and to burn incense. The time of the morning or evening oblation is come; the altar is ready; the incense is at hand; the sacerdotal robe of Christ's righteousness waits to be put on; array thyself in it; and go into the sanctuary of thy heart, and do the priestly ministration. 2. It was the quaint but excellent saying of an old saint that a man should deal with distractions in prayer as he would deal with dogs who run out and bark at him when he goes along the street, — walk on fast and straightforward, and take no notice of them. Persevere in presenting yourself to God during the period for which the prayer ought to last, and would last under happier circumstances. He loves to draw out perseverance in prayer, loves the indication thus given that, amidst all discouragements, the soul clings obstinately to Himself; and very early in the world's history He signified His approval of this temper of mind by rewarding and crowning, as He did, Jacob's struggle with the Jehovah-Angel. It must be remembered that this quiet, resolute patience, even amidst the disorders and distractions of our own spirit, is probably the most acceptable offering which can be made to the Most High. 3. But definite practical rules may be given, which will not be long acted upon without giving a better tone to our devotions. There are parts of prayer which cannot be selfish, which directly seek either the interests of others, or the glory of God; see that these parts be not absent from your prayers.(1) Intercede for others, and acquire the habit of interceding. Consider their wants, trials, and difficulties, and bear them upon your heart as you bear your own before the throne of grace. Intercession is a priestly service. Christ, the great High Priest, intercedes for us all above. And we, if we would prove ourselves members of God's royal priesthood upon earth, and perform with fidelity those spiritual sacrifices which we were consecrated in baptism to present, must intercede for others.(2) Let praise — not merely thanksgiving, but praise — always form an ingredient of thy prayers. We thank God for what He is to us; for the benefits which He confers, and the blessings with which He visits us. But we praise Him for what He is in Himself, for His glorious excellences and perfections, independently of their bearing on the welfare of the creature. In praise the thought of self vanishes from, and is extinguished in, the mind; and therefore to be large and fervent in praise counteracts the natural tendency to selfishness which is found in mere prayer. ( Dean Goulburn. ) The incense of prayer : — Doubtless the Jews felt, when they saw the soft white clouds of fragrant smoke rising slowly from the altar of incense, as if the voice of the priest were silently but eloquently pleading in that expressive emblem on their behalf. The association of sound was lost on that of smell, and the two senses were blended in one. And this symbolical mode of supplication, as Dr. George Wilson has remarked, has this one advantage over spoken or written prayer, that it appealed to those who were both blind and deaf, a class that are usually shut out from social worship by their affliction. Those who could not hear the prayers of the priest could join in devotional exercises symbolized by incense through the medium of their sense of smell; and the hallowed impressions shut out by one avenue were admitted to the mind and heart by another. As the evening sacrifice. On evening prayer J. Riddoch. : — 1. As God hath sanctified the morning and evening to His service by positive laws, so He has made the face of nature, in those seasons, to invite religious sentiments, and rendered them, peculiarly, fit for devotion; for, in the evening the hurry of the world ceases, its noise is hushed, and nature itself seems to pause in a delightful calm, that man may recollect himself after the hurry of the day, that his agitated passions may subside, and his mind, without distraction, offer its grateful homage to its Maker. The evening and the morning, as it were, turn the leaf, and invite us to read the existence, the wisdom, the power, and goodness of God, engraven in different characters, and displayed in a new scene of wonders. The greatness of the stars, their number, the regularity of their motions, the swiftness of their course, the exactness of their periods, the immensity of their bulk, the profoundness of their silence, at once humble and exalt the heart, lay it in the dust, and raise it to heaven. 2. And as the Creator made the face of nature to inspire evening devotion, so it is strongly recommended by the example of our blessed Saviour; for when the crowds were dismissed, and the business of the day done, He generally retired to offer the evening sacrifice of prayer and praise. 3. Gratitude should prompt us to acknowledge the goodness of God through the day; to thank Him for that food and raiment which He bestowed; for guarding us from the open violence and hidden snares of our temporal and spiritual enemies; for shielding us from accidents and infectious diseases; and, above all, for keeping us from ignominy and atrocious crimes, from the pangs and shame and punishment of notorious sins. 4. Evening devotion is extremely useful, and very effectual, for wearing off those ill impressions that our minds receive during our intercourse with the world. There is nothing, next to the grace of God, more likely to preserve us unspotted from the world than beginning and ending every day with the fear of God and the exercises of fervent devotion. 5. Evening devotion is still further necessary, in order to make our peace with God. In many things we offend all; and besides those flagrant crimes for which our consciences reproach us, there are many sins of thought, word, and deed that escape our observation. Can we, then, with a quiet mind, lie down under this load of guilt without so much as supplicating with our families the forgiveness and mercy of our God? 6. As evening devotion is necessary to obtain pardon of the sins we committed through the day, so is it also to obtain the preservation of our lives through the night. A sleeping man is a prey to every accident: if a fire surround him, he is insensible of his danger, and may be stifled or burnt before he recover from a state of insensibility; if an enemy approach him, he can neither resist nor flee; the decays Of time, or an earthquake, make his habitation totter over his head; he is unable to retire, and may be buried in its ruins; the very animals that lodge under his roof may take away his life; nay, a wrong position in his bed may make soul and body part. Can we then sink down into this helpless state without putting ourselves under the wings of Divine providence, and soliciting the protection of Omnipotence? ( J. Riddoch. ) Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3 Sins of the tongue T. Gisborne, M. A. : — I. FOOLISH TALKING ( Ephesians 5:4 ). 1. Some persons are so indisposed to sobriety of thought, and have so long accustomed themselves to regard seriousness as bordering upon stupidity or gloom, that the gravest concerns lose in their conversation every symptom of importance. The wisest reflections are encountered with unmeaning laughter; and conclusions of the highest moment are repelled by a paltry effort at a jest. 2. Of another class, more numerous, and, if it be possible, equally thoughtless, the conversation is altogether and uniformly idle. Day after day, at home and abroad, you hear nothing drop from their lips which manifests a cultivated mind, or a desire of mental improvement. Everything is trifling. II. THOSE WHICH ARISE FROM IMPATIENCE AND DISCONTENT. 1. Of this description is hasty and peevish language in common life. Thus domestic comfort is perpetually invaded by little uneasinesses, little bickerings, little disagreements; and at length perhaps falls a sacrifice to the multiplication of inconsiderable wounds. Is this to be kindly affectioned, tender. hearted one towards another? Is this to walk in love? Is this to imitate the gentleness of Christ? 2. But some men advance to bolder manifestations of impatience and discontent. Not only is their fretfulness querulous, vehement, and acrimonious in domestic and in social life; but, after tormenting man, it shrinks not from insulting God. They repine at His dispensations: they murmur against His providence. Having received so much is this your gratitude, to be indignant that you have not obtained more? Does not He who knows all things discern whether it is better that you should enjoy a greater or a less portion of His gifts? III. THOSE WHICH MAY BE REGARDED AS THE OFFSPRING OF CONTENTION. "Be ye angry, and sin not" If anger in its lowest degree overtake you, beware of transgression. Sin after sin is the usual consequence of anger; and among the first sins which arise from anger are sins of the tongue. The irritated mind unburdens itself in passionate language. When the heart glows with resentment, heat and vehemence of language betray the inward flame. The tongue of rage blazes fiercer and fiercer; and abstains from no injury towards man or towards God. Is this to be the disciple of the meek and holy Jesus? Is this to imitate Him who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, etc.? Wily does the Almighty permit provocations to assail thee, but to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart, whether thou wilt keep His commandments or no; whether thou wilt obey the headlong impulse of wrath; or strive through the grace of thy God, and for the sake of pleasing Him, to remain unmoved? IV. THOSE SINS OF THE TONGUE WHICH OWE THEIR ORIGIN TO VANITY AND PRIDE. The boastful man speaketh of himself and seeketh his own glory. His heart is lifted up; his mouth uttereth proud things; he giveth not the honour unto God; he vaunteth himself against the Most High. Not unfrequently wickedness itself becomes his boast. He openly triumphs in the violence with which he has borne down an opponent. Solicitous in every circumstance of life to magnify himself, he speaks contemptuously and degradingly of others; and the more contemptuously and degradingly in proportion as he apprehends that they may be advantageously compared with him, or may stand in the way of his enterprises and projects. V. CENSORIOUSNESS. Some persons are censorious through carelessness; some through selfishness; some through anger; some through malice; some through envy. According to the difference of the sources from which censoriousness springs, its guilt is more or less flagrant. But even when it arises from carelessness, deem it not a trifling sin. You are not careless concerning your own character, your own welfare. Are you not to love your neighbour as yourself? VI. THOSE SINS OF THE LIPS WHICH ORIGINATE IN A BUSY AND MEDDLING SPIRIT; sins which, if not in themselves of a deeper hue than some which have already been mentioned, often prove more extensively destructive to the peace of society ( Ecclesiastes 10:11 ; Proverbs 11:13 ; Proverbs 17:9 ; Proverbs 18:18 ; Proverbs 26:20 ; Leviticus 19:16 ; 1 Peter 4:15 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:11 ). VII. THOSE OFFENCES WHICH FALL UNDER THE GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF DECEIT. Of these the most prominent is open falsehood. The liar destroys the foundation of all confidence, whether in the public dealings of men one with another, or in the retirement of domestic life. The falsehood, however, of the lips frequently shows itself in the form of slander, which is but a more refined, and therefore more mischievous, mode of lying. What were the engines of sin by which ruin was brought upon mankind? An open falsehood and a disguised slander. As the imitators, the slaves, the children of the devil, all liars, whether they deal in open falsehood or in lurking slander, are objects of detestation to Almighty God ( Proverbs 6:17 ; Proverbs 12:22 ; Revelation 21:8 ). VIII. VIOLATIONS OF MODESTY ( Colossians 3:8 ; Ephesians 5:3, 4 ). There is no sin which is more odious in its nature, more expressive of a depraved and polluted heart. Christ hath called you unto holiness. You are required to be holy, as He was holy; pure, as He was pure. IX. PROFANENESS. This sin comprehends every irreverent expression concerning the Deity, His titles, His attributes, His providence, His revelation, His judgments. ( T. Gisborne, M. A. ) Let the righteous.... reprove me. Psalm 141:5 The reproof of the righteous Essex Remembrancer. : — I. THE CHARACTER OF ONE WHO IS QUALIFIED TO GIVE REPROOF. 1. One whose life is habitually consistent with his profession. 2. One who is influenced by proper motives. (1) Aversion to sin. (2) Love to those whom he reproves. (3) Concern for the happiness and honour of a Christian brother. (4) Love to God and zeal for His glory. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH REPROOF SHOULD BE RECEIVED, AND THE EFFECT IT SHOULD PRODUCE. 1. The manner. (1) It must be esteemed a kindness. (2) We must be willing to part with every sin. (3) We must be truly humble. 2. The effect. (1) It brings to repentance. (2) It raises the reputation. III. THE MANNER IN WHICH WE SHOULD REQUITE THOSE WHO REPROVE US. As sanctified reproof constrains us to pray for ourselves it will dispose us to pray for reprovers. A spirit of prayer is never a selfish spirit; it embraces all mankind, and enables us to offer fervent supplications in behalf of our enemies; much more will it dispose us to pray for those whom we love, and to whom we are indebted for acts of kindness. ( Essex Remembrancer. ) Advantages of Christian reproof D. L. Carroll, D. D. : — I. THE OBLIGATION TO THIS DUTY ( Leviticus 19:17 ; Proverbs 9:8 ; Proverbs 24:15 ; Luke 17:3 ; 1 Timothy 5:20 ; 2 Timothy 4:2 ). III. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO ARE TO ADMINISTER REPROOF TO OTHERS. "Let the righteous smite me." Let the sincere, humble, constant Christian, who is blameless and harmless, the child of God, without rebuke, let him administer reproof. Let the conscientious man, who endeavours to keep himself always in the love of God, who is a pattern of righteousness and peace, reprove and rebuke others. This is Christian reproof, and has the weight which God designed it to have. III. THE SPIRIT IS WHICH IT IS TO BE ADMINISTERED. 1. It must be in the spirit of true Christian meekness.(1) Mingled with a sincere and tender compassion for the offender there must be a humbling conviction of our own frailty and liability to sin, and while we reprove him we must cherish a holy fear of falling ourselves.(2) All harshness, abruptness, overbearing and censoriousness are utterly opposed to the spirit in which Christian rebuke is to be administered. 2. It must be administered in a spirit of real kindness and brotherly love for the individual reproved, and with a sincere desire to do him good. 3. It is to be administered in a spirit of firmness and fidelity. This is not inconsistent with Christian meekness and gentleness, nor with fraternal kindness and tender benevolent desire to do our offending brother goad. IV. THE HAPPY EFFECTS TO BE REALIZED. 1. It will free the Christian who performs this duty from being partaker of other men's sins, and will give him a peace of conscience which he cannot otherwise enjoy. 2. It is often the means of breaking the spell and delusions of sin on a brother's mind which have withstood all other influences. 3. It will prevent the evil of talebearing and backbiting. 4. It will promote amongst Christians a spirit of brotherly love and prayerfulness for each other. ( D. L. Carroll, D. D. ) How we may bring our hearts to bear reproofs : — I. HOW REPROOFS MAY BE DULY RECEIVED. 1. It is desirable on many accounts that he who reproves us be himself a righteous person, and be of us esteemed so to be; for as such an one alone will or can have a due sense of the evil reproved, with a right principle and end in the discharge of his own duty, so the minds of them that are reproved are, by their sense of his integrity, excluded from those insinuations of evasions which prejudices and suggestions of just causes of reflections on their reprover will offer unto them. Especially, without the exercise of singular wisdom and humility, will all the advantages of a just reproof be lost where the allowed practice of greater sins and evils than that reproved is daily chargeable on the reprover. 2. The nature of a reproof is either —(1) Authoritative. (a) Ministerial. (b) Parental. (c) Despotical.(2) Or fraternal. (3) Or friendly. 3. The matter of a reproof is duly to be weighed by him who designs any benefit thereby. II. WHY WE OUGHT TO RECEIVE REPROOFS ORDERLY OR REGULARLY GIVEN UNTO US, ESTEEMING THEM A SINGULAR PRIVILEGE. 1. Mutual reproofs for the curing of evil and preventing of danger in one another are prime dictates of the law of nature and that obligation which our participation in the same being, offspring, original, and end, to seek the good of each other, doth lay upon us. 2. Whereas the light of nature is variously obscured and its directive power debilitated in us, God hath renewed on us an obligation unto this duty by particular institutions, both under the Old Testament and the New. 3. A due consideration of the use, benefit, and advantage of them will give them a ready admission into our minds and affections. Who knows how many souls that are now at rest with God have been prevented by reproofs, as the outward means, from going down into the pit? Unto how many have they been an occasion of conversion and sincere turning unto God! III. WHAT CONSIDERATIONS MAY FURTHER US IN THEIR DUE IMPROVEMENT. 1. If there be not open evidence onto the contrary, it is our duty to judge that every reproof is given us in a way of duty. This will take off offence with respect unto the reprover, which, unjustly taken, is an assured entrance into a way of losing all benefit and advantage by the reproof. 2. Take heed of cherishing habitually such disorders, vices, and distempers of mind as are contrary unto this duty and will frustrate the design of it. Such are — (1) Hastiness of spirit. (2) Pride and haughtiness of mind. 3. Reckon assuredly that a fault, a miscarriage which any one is duly reproved for, if the reproof be not received and improved as it ought, is not only aggravated, but accumulated with a new crime, and marked with a dangerous token of an incurable evil ( Proverbs 29:1 ). 4. It is useful unto the same end immediately to compare the reproof with the word of truth. This is the measure, standard, and directory of all duties, whereunto in all dubious cases we should immediately retreat for advice and counsel. 5. The best way to keep our souls in a readiness rightly to receive, and duly to reprove such reproofs, as may regularly be given us by any, is to keep and preserve our souls and spirits in a constant awe and reverence of the reproofs of God, which are recorded in His Word. 6. We shall fail in this duty unless we are always accompanied with a deep sense of our frailty, weakness, readiness to halt, or miscarry, and thereon a necessity of all the ordinances and visitations of God, which are designed to preserve our souls. ( J. Owen , D. D. ) A wise reprover Weekly Pulpit. : — Mr. John Wesley , having to travel some distance in a stage coach, fell in with a pleasant-tempered, well-informed officer. His conversation was sprightly and entertaining, but frequently mingled with oaths. When they were about to take the next stage, Mr. Wesley took the officer aside, and, after expressing the pleasure he had enjoyed in his company, told him he was thereby encouraged to ask of him a very great favour. "I would take a pleasure in obliging you," said the officer, "and I am sure you will not make an unreasonable request." "Then," said Mr. Wesley, "as we have to travel together some time, I beg that, if I should so far forget myself as to swear, you will kindly reprove me." The officer immediately saw the motive, and felt the force of the request, and, with a smile, said, "None but Mr. Wesley could have conceived a reproof in such a manner." ( Weekly Pulpit. ) For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. Intercessory prayer : — Passage difficult, but we take the meaning of our Authorized Version, and would speak — I. OF THE DUTY OF INTERCESSION FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD. 1. Take as our first key-note the word obligation. The new nature in us teaches us this as does the law of the elect household. And our membership of the body of Christ, and our obligation to the intercession of others, urge this. 2. Honour. It is this to be permitted to pray for the saints, for so we are brought into close fellowship with Christ. Especially when we think what we once were — beggars for ourselves at mercy's door. Avail yourselves of this honour. 3. Excellence. Such intercession benefits those who use it, for it will suggest go you to know your brethren, and will bring love with it; and will lead you to kinder judgments, and to self-watchfulness. Have we not cause to be ashamed on account of our neglect of this duty? 4. Extent. He would pray for those who had displeased him; who had said, perhaps, severe things to him. And especially when they were in trouble. Men of the world leave their companions when they get into trouble as the herd leave the wounded deer. But we should stand by such. II. FOR SINNERS ALSO WE SHOULD INTERCEDE. It is the most essential thing we can do. We cannot change their hearts. Such prayer will fit you to become God's instrument, and will make you go to work hopefully. It is a very horrible thing to think of persons being buried alive, put underground by their friends in their coffins while yet there was breath in their bodies. Let us mind that we never bury a soul alive; I am afraid we are in the habit of doing it. We judge of such an one that he will never be converted, all effort would be useless. But we have no right thus to seal a soul's death-warrant or to limit the grace of God. In this prayer all can aid. Some things many of you cannot do, but this all can. And especially when sinners come into calamities. We may win them then. Let us all intercede more. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth. Psalm 141:7, 8 The scattered bones and the uplifted look J. Leckie, D. D. : — The text presents in a very vivid way an aspect of death most familiar, but most striking, and it also expresses the thoughts and the earnest prayer that rise in a soul at such a sight. You have walked in an old graveyard and seen the bones scattered at the grave's mouth. There are few whom this sight does not make to think. You remember Hamlet in the graveyard with the skull of Yorick, the king's jester. What a pathos and tenderness are there. With that text in his hand, how touchingly he discourses on our poor fleeting human life. "The flashes of merriment that set the table in a roar" — "the infinite jest" — all come to this. The bones that were so carefully nurtured, that cost so much, are knocked and tossed about and thrown into a heap. Every man who contemplates such a spectacle — bones strewn about as if they were but chips and sticks where men had been chopping wood, must either go away with a dangerous sense of the vanity and worthlessness of human life, or with a spirit made intense, and raised in prayer to the infinite God. I. OUR UNION WITS PAST GENERATIONS AND THE INTENSE REALITY OF OUR PRESENT LIFE. Observe the use of the word "our." He looks at the bones and speaks as if they were partly his own, as if they belonged partly to living men. He identifies himself with those past generations. This human life that we are living now is not a new thing. It is old, very old. I understand all the struggles and wide experience of the past, for it is all in me. That history is mine. It seems as if I had lived then and been a part of all this. It is good for us go look back over the past and feel our identity with our race. It makes us humble. It makes us tender and kindly. It fills us with compassion for the human family. We are ashamed at times and vexed and grieved; but we are also elevated and enlarged as we look back over the generations that are gone. They are gone, and how fleeting they have all been. It is like a dream to think of all these past generations of men. Their existence seems a shadow. But let us not think our present life shadowy. No; that is not the lesson which the writer of the psalm learnt from the scattered bones. He learnt intensity. "But mine eyes are toward Thee, O God the Lord. In Thee is my trust. Leave not my soul destitute." Life is new and momentous to us. It is as momentous as if it had never been lived before and would never be lived again. When you think steadily of God, it seems as if there were none but God and you standing over against each other. The man who keeps his eyes directed toward God feels life new and fresh, although the bones of many generations are scattered around him. II. IN THE TEXT WE SEE THE LITTLENESS AND THE GREATNESS OF MAN. 1. The scattered bones proclaim the littleness of man. These are the remains of thinkers, poets, kings, lovers of men, great inventors, famous disputers. 2. Yet, when I think of man in his weakness turning his eyes to the infinite God; when I reflect that man can think of a boundless and perfect One, that man looks to Him, that he has an eye that sees the invisible God: that he claims the society of the Maker of all worlds, and is restless till he finds it; when I reflect on man as putting his trust in the living God amidst all the mysteries of time; when I think of man standing over the grave where his dearest ones lie, where the ruins of his hopes are, and saying there, "I believe in God; I trust in God; He will not leave my soul destitute"; then I see the greatness of man. III. A MELANCHOLY PROSPECT AND A RISING ABOVE IT. 1. The prospect before us all is this: by and by our bones will be scattered about the grave's mouth. By and by you are forgotten, and the white relics that are thrown up by the shovel of the grave-digger are quite unknown. They have no name. Does it not seem like a horrid dream that we should be all coming to this? Surely it cannot be true. We all know too well that it is true and no dream. 2. There is just one remedy, one antidote, one means of conquering all thoughts of this kind; and the text presents it. "Mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord." I see a glorious Being, infinite, eternal, everywhere present, absolute love and truth and holiness. The fact that I can think of this Being of itself inspires hope and courage. It cannot be that the eyes that look to Him can moulder into dust. Eyes that cannot but look to Him are not doomed to grow dim. He Himself has invited me to look to Him, and the sight of His face gives me joy. ( J. Leckie, D. D. ) Mine eyes are unto Thee, O God. Eyes steadfastly fixed on God A. Rowland, B. A. : — The determination to do a certain thing involves the possibility and sometimes the probability of not doing it. The regal faculty of will co

Benson Commentary Psalm 141:1 A Psalm of David. LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2 . Let my prayer be set forth before thee — Hebrews ???? ?????? , be directed to thy face, person, or presence. Let it not be lost, but let it come unto thee and find audience; as incense — Let it be owned and accepted by thee, no less than if it had been offered with incense at thine altar, from which I am now banished, and so am prevented from offering it there. And the lifting up of my hands — My prayer made with hands lifted up, which was the usual gesture in praying; as the evening sacrifice — In which he instances rather than the morning sacrifice, either because this prayer was addressed to God in the evening, or because the evening sacrifice was more solemn than that of the morning, and was attended with more company and more prayers; whence the ninth hour, which was the time of this sacrifice, is emphatically called the hour of prayer, Acts 3:1 . Psalm 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3-4 . Set a watch before my mouth — That I may not, through mine own infirmity, and the great provocation of mine enemies, break forth into any unadvised speeches, or any expressions of impatience, distrust, envy, or malice; keep the door, &c. — My lips, which are the door of my mouth, whence words come forth. Incline not my heart — Suffer it not to be inclined, either by the temptations of the devil, the world, or the flesh, to any evil thing — Whatever inclination there may be in me to sin, let it be not only restrained but mortified by divine grace; and keep me, not only from wicked words and works, but from all evil motions of the heart, which might otherwise draw me to join with wicked men in sinful courses, or to act wickedly as they do. And let me not eat of their dainties — Let me not partake of the pleasures or advantages which they gain by their wickedness. My troubles and afflictions are more desirable than such prosperity. Psalm 141:4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. Psalm 141:5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. Psalm 141:5 . Let the righteous smite me — Namely, by reproofs. If at any time, through the frailty of nature, I should be inclined to yield to temptation, let me find, among my attendants or friends, some righteous and faithful person, who, with kind severity, will check and reprove me. It shall be a kindness — I shall be so far from being offended with it, as an act of enmity or ill will, that I shall esteem it an act and mark of true friendship. It shall be an excellent oil — Hebrews ???? ???? , the oil of the head, that is, as the oil which is poured upon the head as the manner was in great feasts and solemnities, which shall not break my head — Nor hurt, but heal, and greatly refresh me. For yet my prayer shall be in their calamities — Either, 1st, In the calamities of those persons who reproved and censured him. When they came into such calamities as those wherein he had been involved, he would pity them, and pray for them. Or, he may mean the calamities of his enemies, of which he speaks in the next words. He foresaw that his enemies would be in calamities, and that they would need, and desire his prayers; and he here declares he would willingly grant them: but the Hebrew of this clause may be properly rendered, My prayer shall be against their wickedness. Psalm 141:6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. Psalm 141:6 . When their judges are overthrown, &c. — “Of this verse, as it stands in our translation,” says Dr. Horne, “I know not what can be made. When literally rendered from the Hebrew, it runs thus; Their judges have been dismissed in the sides of the rock,” ??????? ???? ??? , “and have heard my words that they were sweet. David, reflecting on Saul’s cruelty in driving him out of his country to wander among aliens and idolaters, very naturally calls to mind, and mentions his own different behaviour toward that implacable enemy, whose life he had spared two several times, when he had it in his power to destroy him as he pleased.” This is also Mr. Peters’s interpretation of the passage, who translates it as above, understanding, by ???????? , rendered their judges, their leaders, or generals, according to the frequent usage of the word in Scripture. The sense evidently is, “Their princes have been dismissed in safety when I had them at an advantage in those rocky deserts, and they only heard me expostulate with them in the gentlest words;” indeed, “in a manner so mild and humble that even Saul himself was overcome, and lift up his voice and wept, saying, My son David, thou art more righteous than I: the Lord reward thee good for what thou hast done unto me this day, 1 Samuel 24:16 . Such has been my conduct toward the servants of Saul; yet how have my people, alas! been by them most miserably butchered!” Psalm 141:7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. Psalm 141:7 . Our bones are scattered, &c. — So barbarously cruel were our enemies that they not only killed many of our friends, but left their carcasses unburied, by which means their flesh, and sinews, &c., were consumed, or torn in pieces by wild beasts, and their bones dispersed upon the face of the earth, our common grave. The words are thought to refer to Saul’s barbarity and cruelty to David’s friends, in the horrid massacre of Ahimelech and the priests, by the hand of Doeg; perpetrated in such a savage manner that he compares it to the chopping and cleaving of wood, as if he had said, “How unlike, how barbarous, has their treatment been of me! My best friends slaughtered in great numbers, at the command of Saul, (so some render ??? ????? , instead of, at the grave’s mouth, ) and hewn to pieces in his presence, as one would cut or chop a piece of wood:” see Peters. Psalm 141:8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Psalm 141:8 . But mine eyes are unto thee — But in this sore distress I fix my thoughts on thee, O God, the Lord, the only living and true God, and governor of all things; in thee is my trust, &c. — In thee I repose an assured confidence that thou wilt not leave me without support and protection, much less wilt thou abandon me to the malice of those that seek to take away my life. This verse, says Mr. Peters, shows us what was David’s support under his extraordinary trials: it was a firm trust in God, as the great Lord and Ruler of the world: and a steady resolution to obey him in all things. “Among the sayings of Pythagoras this was one, ??????? ??????? , simplify thyself, that is, ‘reduce thy conduct, if possible, to one single aim, and pursue it without weariness, or distraction.’ If this single aim be, to approve ourselves to God by such a course of life as he prescribes; to adhere strictly to our duty, with an eye to him who has commanded it, and patiently submit the issue of things to his all-wise and gracious providence; we have then hit upon that principle which here appears to have animated David, and may, with confidence, address our prayers to the great Lord and Sovereign of the world in all our straits and difficulties, as he does in the following part of the Psalm.” Leave not my soul destitute — Hebrew, make not my soul naked: deprive it not of thy favour and protection: or, do not pour out my soul, namely, unto death, as the same word, ??? , is used, Isaiah 53:12 . In the language of the Holy Scriptures, God is said to do what he only permits or suffers to be done. But whether David here prays to have his life preserved from danger, or his soul from sin, may admit of a question. The words will suit with either explanation, and probably he might intend both; but chiefly the latter. We have seen, from Psalm 141:4 , how earnestly he begs that God would protect him by his grace from complying with the idolatrous practices of the heathen, to whom he was about to flee for refuge; and it is remarkable that, in his last speech to Saul, he particularly dwells upon the danger to which his religion was exposed, 1 Samuel 26:19 . They have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods. As if he had said, “They have done what lies in their power to drive me to idolatry, by forcing me into a country where I shall have the strongest temptations to it.” This was a thing he seems to have dreaded more than death; and therefore he prays against it in the next verse. Psalm 141:9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. Psalm 141:9-10 . Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me — Keep me from being taken in it: give me to discover and evade it. If Saul and his evil counsellors be intended in this clause, probably the heathen, to whom David was now driven for refuge, were meant in the next. They were workers of iniquity in the worst sense, being worshippers of idols, and their idols were always snares to the Israelites, as their history informs us, and as they were forewarned by God himself, Jdg 2:3 . Their gods will be a snare unto you, Hebrew, ????? , the same word with that translated, in the plural number, gins, in this verse. Let the wicked fall — Hebrew, ???? , they shall fall; into their own nets — Into the snares, dangers, and mischiefs which they design for me. While that I withal escape — Namely, together with my followers, or, in like manner, as I have formerly done. But many translators, both ancient and modern, join the word ??? , here rendered withal, or together, to the preceding clause to which it is placed next in the Hebrew, and then the meaning is, the wicked shall fall into their own nets together, or alike, one as well as another, Saul himself not excepted, (whom, though I dare not destroy him, God will judge,) while that I escape, am preserved from that common calamity in which mine enemies perish. Which was verified by the event. For David escaped all the snares which were laid for him on every side; and was strangely kept out of harm’s way, when Saul and other of David’s enemies were cut off by the Philistines, 1 Samuel 31. So will the devices of the enemies of God’s people be in the end turned against themselves. They shall fall and perish, but the saved of the Lord shall triumph with their Redeemer to eternity. Reader, see that thou be one of these! Psalm 141:10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 141:1 A Psalm of David. LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Psalm 141:1-10 PART of this psalm is hopelessly obscure, and the connection is difficult throughout. It is a prayer of a harassed soul, tempted to slacken its hold on God, and therefore betaking itself to Him. Nothing more definite as to author or occasion can be said with certainty. The allusions in Psalm 141:6-7 are dark to us, and the psalm must, in many parts, remain an enigma. Probably Baethgen and Cheyne are wise in giving up the attempt to extract any intelligible meaning from Psalm 141:5 c and Psalm 141:6 as the words stand, and falling back on asterisks. Delitzsch regards the psalm as being composed as suitable to "a Davidic situation," either by David himself, or by some one who wished to give expression in strains like David’s to David’s probable mood. It would thus be a "Dramatic Idyll," referring, according to Delitzsch, to Absalom’s revolt. Psalm 141:2 is taken by him to allude to the king’s absence from the sanctuary, and the obscure Psalm 141:6 , to the fate of the leaders of the revolt and the return of the mass of the people to loyal submission. But this is a very precarious reference. The psalm begins with the cry to God to hear, which so often forms the introduction to psalms of complaint and supplications for deliverance. But here a special colouring is given by the petition that the psalmist’s prayers may be equivalent to incense and sacrifice. It does not follow that he was shut out from outward participation in worship, but only that he had learned what that worship meant. "Appear" might be rendered established. The word means to be set firm, or, reflexively, to station oneself and hence is taken by some as equivalent to "appear" or "come" before Thee; while others give prominence rather to the notion of stability in the word, and take it to mean continue -i.e., be accepted. There may be a reference to the morning sacrifice in the "incense," so that both morning and evening ritual would be included; but it is more natural to think of the evening incense, accompanying the evening "meal offering," and to suppose that the psalm is an evening prayer. The penetrating insight into the realities of spiritual worship which the singer has gained is more important to note than such questions about the scope of his figures. The prayer in Psalm 141:3-4 is for deliverance not from dangers, but from temptation to sin in word or deed. The psalmist is not suffering from the hostility of the workers of iniquity, but dreads becoming infected with their sin. This phase of trial was not David’s in Absalom’s revolt, and the prominence given to it here makes Delitzsch’s view of the psalm very doubtful. An earlier psalmist had vowed to "put a muzzle on his mouth," but a man’s own guard over his words will fail, unless God keeps the keeper, and, as it were, sets a sentry to watch the lips. The prayer for strength to resist temptation to wrong acts, which follows that against wrong speech, is curiously loaded with synonymous terms. The psalmist asks that his heart, which is but too apt to feel the risings of inclination to fall in with the manners around him, may be stiffened into wholesome loathing of every evil-"To practise practices in wickedness with men [perhaps, great men] who work iniquity." The clause rather drags, and the proposed insertion of "Let me not sit" before "with men that work iniquity" lightens the weight, and supplies a good parallel with "Let me not eat of their dainties." It is, however, purely conjectural, and the existing reading is intelligible, though heavy. The psalmist wishes to keep clear of association with the corrupt society around him, and desires to be preserved from temptations to fall in with its luxurious sensuality, lest thereby he should slide into imitation of its sins. He chose plain living, because he longed for high thinking, and noble doing, and grave, reverend speech. All this points to a period when the world fought against goodness by proffering vulgar delights, rather than by persecution. Martyrs have little need to pray that they may not be tempted by persecutors’ feasts. This man "scorned delights" and chose to dwell with good men. The connection of Psalm 141:5 with the preceding seems to be that in it the psalmist professes his preference for the companionship of the righteous, even if they reprove him. It is better, in his judgment, to have the wholesome correction of the righteous than to feast with the wicked. But while this is the bearing of the first part of the verse, the last clause is obscure, almost to unintelligibility, and even the earlier ones are doubtful. If the Hebrew accents are adhered to, the rendering above must be adopted. The division of clauses and rendering adopted by Hupfeld and many others, and in the A.V. and R.V., gives vividness, but requires "it shall be" to be twice supplied. The whole sentence seems to run more smoothly, if the above translation is accepted. "Oil for the head" is that with which the head is anointed as for a feast and there is probably a tacit suggestion of a better festival, spread in the austere abodes of the righteous poor, than on the tables loaded with the dainties of the wicked rich. But what is the meaning and bearing of the last clause of Psalm 141:5 ? No wholly satisfactory answer has been given. It is needless here to travel through the various more or less violent and unsuccessful attempts to unravel the obscurities of this clause and of the next verse. One sympathises with Hupfeld’s confession that it is an unwelcome ( sauer ) task to him to quote the whirl of varying conjectures. The rendering adopted above, as, on the whole, the least unlikely, is substantially Delitzsch’s. It means that the psalmist "will oppose no weapon but prayer to his enemies’ wickedness, and is therefore in the spiritual mood susceptible to well-meaning reproof." The logic of the clause is not very clear, even with this explanation. The psalmist’s continuance in prayer against the wicked is not very obviously a reason for his accepting kindly rebuke. But no better explanation is proposed. The darkness thickens in Psalm 141:6 . The words indeed are all easily translatable; but what the whole sentence means, or what an allusion to the destruction of some unnamed people’s rulers has to do here, or who they are who hear the psalmist’s words, are questions as yet unanswered. To cast men down "by the sides [lit., hands] of a rock" is apparently an expression for the cruel punishment mentioned as actually inflicted on ten thousand of the "children of Seir". { 2 Chronicles 25:12 } Those who, with Delitzsch, take the revolt under Absalom to be the occasion of the psalm, find in the casting down of these judges an imaginative description of the destruction of the leaders of the revolt, who are supposed to be hurled down the rocks by the people whom they had misled while the latter, having again come to their right mind, attend to David’s word and find it pleasant and beneficent. But this explanation requires much supplementing of the language, and does not touch the difficulty of bringing the verse into connection with the preceding. Nor is the connection with what follows more clear. A various reading substitutes "Their" for "Our" in Psalm 141:7 , and so makes the whole verse a description of the bones of the ill-fated "judges" lying in a litter at the base of the precipice. But apparently the reading is merely an attempt to explain the difficulty. Clearly enough the verse gives an extraordinarily energetic and graphic picture of a widespread slaughter. But who are the slain, and what event or events in the history of Israel are here imaginatively reproduced, is quite unknown. All that is certain is the tremendous force of the representation, the Aeschylean ruggedness of the metaphor, and the desperate condition to which it witnesses. The point of the figure lies in the resemblance of the bones strewn at the mouth of Sheol to broken clods turned up by a plough. Sheol seems here to waver between the meanings of the unseen world of souls and the grave. The unburied bones of slaughtered saints "lie scattered," as unregarded as the lumps of soil behind the ploughman. In Psalm 141:8-10 the familiar psalm tone recurs, and the language clears itself. The stream has been foaming among rocks in a gorge, but it has emerged into sunlight, and flows smoothly. Only the "For" at the beginning of Psalm 141:8 is difficult, if taken to refer to the immediately preceding verses. Rather, it overleaps the obscure middle part of the psalm, and links on to the petitions of Psalm 141:1-4 . Patient, trustful expectance is the psalmist’s temper, which gazes not interrogatively, but with longing which is sure of satisfaction, towards God, from amidst the temptations or sorrows of earth. The reason for that fixed, look of faith lies in the Divine names, so rich in promise, which are here blended in an unusual combination. The devout heart pleads its own act of faith in conjunction with God’s names, and is sure that, since He is Jehovah, Lord, it cannot be vain to hide oneself in Him. Therefore, the singer prays for preservation from destruction. "Pour not out my soul" recalls Isaiah 53:12 , where the same vivid metaphor is used. The prayer of the earlier verses was for protection from temptation; here, circumstances have darkened, and the psalmist’s life is in danger. Possibly the "snares" and "gins" of Psalm 141:9 mean both temptations and perils. The final petition in Psalm 141:10 is like many in earlier psalms. It was a fundamental article of faith for all the psalmists that a great Lex Talionis was at work, by which every sin was avenged in kind; and if one looks deeper than the outside of life, the faith is eternally warranted. For nothing is more certain than that, whomsoever else a man may harm by his sin, he harms himself most. Nets woven and spread for others may or may not ensnare them, but their meshes cling inextricably round the feet of their author, and their tightening folds will wrap him helpless, like a fly in a spider’s web. The last clause presents some difficulties. The word rendered above "at the same time" is literally "together," but seems to be used here, Psalm 4:8 (at once), with the meaning of simultaneously. The two things are cotemporaneous-the enemies’ ensnaring and the psalmist’s escape. The clause is abnormal in its order of words. It stands thus: "At the same time I, while [until] I pass by." Probably the irregularity arose from a desire to put the emphatic word "at the same time" in the prominent place. It is doubtful whether we should translate "while" or "until." Authorities are divided, and either meaning is allowable. But though the rendering until gives picturesqueness to the representation of the snared foe restrained and powerless, until his hoped for prey walks calmly, through the toils, the same idea is conveyed by while, and that rendering avoids the implication that the snaring lasted only as long as the time taken for the psalmist’s escape. What is uppermost in the psalmist’s mind is, in any case, not the destruction of his enemies, but their being made powerless to prevent his "passing by" their snares uncaptured. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.