Speaking the Psalms with understanding.

Ps 141

1 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.

Let me address the two liners. This phrase 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 is actually the only time the Psalmist teaches us that we should say something that hurts. It is the only time i can think of. This is why I do not get my application from jumping from one part of the bible to another and getting my application from pulling out a verse that has a context. Ive been meditating on these Psalms for 30 years and inevitably there are certain verses that people pull out of the psalms and repeat them over and over again. Another verse which is another one that stands by itself is ...If I hold iniquity in my heart that Lord will not hear me.... 

The Psalms are written in many different forms of language. But they are written for a student to memorize them and speak them as if the speaking creates the life style. And you will see this if you really took the time to use them as they were designed and not draw conclusions because you seem to have enough knowledge of the NT doctrines that you can assume this is what the Psalmist meant when you havent even used them as they were designed. 

Its like taking a picture of a small boat floating around in the Atlantic and concluding that there was no need to examine the vast waters that the boat was floating on because the boat supports your position. But unless you jump in the vast waters and swim around then you wont have the perspective of the smallness of the boat. This is exactly how God describes grace to be. Its a vast ocean that over shadows the boat. And so we must speak these two verses as they are given in a passing way. In these two verses its as if the Psalmist is passing over them as if he has stumbled on something that is part of his argument that proves how powerful grace is. These two verses actually prove the opposite of how two liners teach them...in the original spoken form. 

When the Psalmist says the Lord will not hear his prayers if he has regard for iniquity in his heart ...first if you look at the verse its written with the other side. "But God has surely heard my prayer." Ive argued that the First John teaching on confessing of sin is teaching that our confessing sin is not seen as a work by God. I get my interpretation from these two concepts that are like a boat on the big ocean. In other words the focus is on Gods free acceptance of us as His children and not upon the confession as a count for forgiveness. And this is what the Psalmist is alluding to. That we are like the unsaved because we have iniquity in our hearts but its impossible for it to count against us because we are on the other side of grace. It showing the value of Gods acceptance here and not the counting of the confession to the forgiveness. Its really pointing to the ocean of grace that surrounds this verse. 

You see on this other verse that gets a lot of fan fare that the Psalmist that his words ...the curses, covenants, laws, decrees, statutes and promises are spoken as a warning to the nations. Its in this context that the Psalmist words will come true when he obtains victory in war so that it will be seen when another nation comes along and excavates the site where the Psalmist had victory so that the graves are not even respected. lol their bones are sort of dug up in disrespect. Its alluding to how nations come and go based upon the edicts of the Governor from heaven who has revealed His success in the Davidic rule. lol 

This is why I believe the Psalmist is alluding to a fellow soldier who saves the life of his companion...like being in the same bunker and preventing that other soldier from confronting the ravages of the enemy. And if this would not strike at the heart of the soldier who was saved i dont know what would be. But its a passing statement of "but my prayer is ever against the deeds of evil doers."