“May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”
~ Psalm 141:2
Hi James and Ellen,
When you are talking with God, what is something that you should ask Him? Is there something that you would like God to do for you? Is God always watching you? Is God always there alongside you? When you are talking with your ma and/or dad, what is something that you can ask your ma and/or dad? Is there something that you would like your ma and/or dad to do for you? Can your ma and/or dad always watch you like God watches you? Can your ma and/or dad always be alongside you like God is always alongside you? Will God help you if you do not ask Him to help you? Will your ma and/or dad help you if you do not ask your ma and/or dad to help you? When you are talking with God, God wants you to ask Him for His help. God wants you to talk with Him as you would talk to your dad. You have an earthly father who is your dad. You have a Heavenly Father who is God. It may seem silly to you to ask for something from your Father who you cannot see but . . . this is the way that it works when you believe in faith in God – your Heavenly Father. Do you know where this faith comes from which leads you to believe that God always is hearing what you are saying? God has given you as a gift this faith to believe in Him. God does not give this faith to the guys, gals and kids who He did not before He created planet Earth choose to become His adopted kids. It is the faith that God has given you which leads you to talk with God. Did guys in the Old Testament have a God driven faith? Guys in the Old Testament knew what it was like to have conversations with God. Guys in the Old Testament knew that they had to ask God for help if they wanted His help. God has made it easy for you to ask Him for whatever. God has made it easy for you to thank Him for whatever it is that you believe that He has done to you. You make it harder for God to help you with something when you think that you are quite capable of taking care of whatever it is. When you think of how God might help you, do you think of God helping you with more money, better health, good grade, a safe trip, etc.? Do you think that just maybe that God would rather that you ask Him to help you to stop telling untrue stories about other kids, thinking bad about other kids and doing bad things to other kids? Why do you think that guys, gals and kids tell false stories about other guys, gals and kids? Why do you think that guys, gals and kids would want to think bad about other guys, gals or kids? Why do you think that guys, gals and kids would want to hurt other guys, gals or kids? When a baby is born; the baby is born with badness. Why do you think that when you were born that there was badness in you? From the moment when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and ate something which God had told Adam explicitly not to eat, every single guy, gal and kid born on planet Earth is born with a propensity to be disobedient. Because of what Adam did, you are inherently wicked kids. It is easier for you to sin than it is for you to be obedient to God. The only way that you can be obedient to God is to ask God for His help – to help you to be obedient to Him. Your grandpaa sometimes thinks that God has made living here on planet Earth too hard.
The Psalms authors – who are called Psalmists, understood the consequences of evil and temptations. The Psalm 141 writer seems to be very desperately asking God for His help. The author of this Psalm is asking God to please come to him quickly – to not to wait. This Psalmist is begging God to hear his voice. This Psalmist sounds like he is in danger. What do you think might have been the danger that this Psalmist is finding himself in at this time? How did the writer of this Psalm want God to see and hear him? Verse 2 says “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” Why do you think that this Psalmist would want the words that he is praying to God smell like the sweet smell of incense to God? Why do you think that this Psalmist would also think it important that God sees him lifting up his hands to Him? What do you think might be used to destroy a guy, gal or kid? Words kill. A mouth spewing out words against another guy, gal or kid can destroy that guy, gal or kid. God is being asked by this Psalm writer to guard his mouth. God is being asked by this Psalm writer to keep watch over the door of his lips. God is being asked by this Psalm writer to keep his heart from being pulled or being led to where evil is and to do what is evil. God is being asked by this Psalm writer to keep his heart from wanting to do what is evil or wicked or sinful to do. God is being asked by this Psalm writer to keep him from being with guys who are evil guys. This Psalmist is scared of falling into sin and doing evil. You need to be scared of falling into sin and doing evil. You need to be constantly conversing with God – asking God for His help to keep you from evil as it is only God who can keep you from evil or wickedness or sin. This Psalmist knew this and . . .
This Psalmist also knew that there were guys who could help him. This Psalmist was willing to receive what help he could get from other guys. This Psalmist wanted righteous guys to confront him out of kindness if they saw what he was doing was wrong. This Psalmist hoped though that God would save him from doing evil or sinning by destroying everything on planet Earth which was evil and would cause him to do evil or to sin. This Psalmist asks God to throw the wicked rulers off cliffs and to have wicked guys be caught in the trap that these guys had set to get him to do evil and to sin. What did you pray for today? Are you asking God to keep your mouth from hurting others and your heart from harming yourself? Are you asking God for a protective hedge to keep evil guys away from you?
Psalm 141 (98)